Halo: Force Recon
by The Man With a Pen
Summary: The Human-Covenant War rages through the stars. Tales of supersoldiers and genius Naval commanders fill the eyes and the ears of the public. This is not such a tale. This is a story about a simple soldier, who has found himself in an almost constant state of fighting. Rated M for Language and gore. Currently on indefinite hiatus
1. Chapter 1 A Bitter Return

Chapter 1

A Bitter Return

In all honesty. I could of ran…

I could of easily used every single escape plan I had.

But something just told me not too…

After all… fighting was something I was good at. Maybe this was just my subconscious trying to get me back into the bloodshed. Maybe I actually wanted to. But at the time I had no fucking clue why I had said yes and came back…

Before I even continue with what happened next, let me explain something very important… I didn't join the UNSC because I wanted to. I joined the UNSC because I had to.

The war hadn't even really begun. Yeah, there were a few rumors here and there,a few whispers mentioned at a bar, but nothing concrete.

Sadly, I had debts to pay off and owed a lot of favors. I mean what can you expect from an outer colony kid with no folks. I had been on my own since the age of 11. Dad had always loved associating with the wrong crowd. Eventually he got in too deep and it not only cost him his life… but the life of my mother.

Of course you don't get to just walk away from something like that as an 11 year old kid without some permanent scars. For some goddamn reason they kept me alive. Maybe as a last "screw you" to my father. But I quickly realized that they certainly didn't keep me alive to nurture and care for me.

Barely any food and with daily threats of death unless I met with their demands… I learned quickly that I had to make myself useful. And useful I became.

When an opportunity came I quickly showed them that I was capable of becoming something...

 _The sound of gunshots could easily be heard from the other side of the door I was hiding behind. Whoever the hell came here meant business. "WHAT THE HELL ARE THE UNSC DOING HERE!?" I hear come from beyond the door. "I DON'T FUCKING KNOW JUST SHOOT 'EM!_ " _The UNSC...I had only heard them talk about UNSC once or twice but when they did, the conversation soon became deadly serious. What are they doing her anyway? Could they be here for me? No… No way. The UNSC was...Something big, bigger than me at least._

As a young outer colony kid I hadn't really known what the UNSC was. I was more familiarized with the CMA and their presence in these regions.

 _When I had finally cleared my thoughts, I had realized the noise had died down. Only small bursts of fire could be heard periodically. H-Had they won… Did the UNSC win? Was I gonna be found?_

 _I began to slowly open the door inching it closer to my face._

 _That's when it happened._

 _Suddenly one of my captors and what I could only assume was a UNSC soldier burst through the door knocking me to the side of the room. They were both unarmed and fighting hand-to-hand._

 _Once I had broken out of my daze and realized what had happened I looked up to see the soldier and my captor in what appeared to be a stalemate. Something on the other side of the room had caught my eye as well._

 _A gun._

 _A loaded gun._

 _Acting on instinct I quickly crawled to the other side of the room and took hold of the firearm. Now, I may of never used a firearm before but I knew the basics. Point and pull the trigger._

 _I pointed the weapon at the 2 men._

 _And I pulled the trigger._

I don't know what made me choose him that day. He probably had a family. I don't think about it much.

 _The sound of a body hitting the floor, blood splattering against the wall, and the shell casing hitting the floor filled the room._

Perhaps it was a lack of accuracy and that I had to own up to my decision, maybe it was some form of stockholm syndrome. To this day I don't really know. What I do know, is in that single moment I had made a decision that would change my life…

 _I quickly threw the gun away._

 _My captor stood up and looked me in the eyes. Those once cold eyes now seemed to be filled with… Intrigue and what I believe to be the beginning of trust._

" _T-Thanks kid… Don't know why ya did that but… Thanks."_

 _His voice was gruff almost as if his vocal cords and been burned up. He stretched out his hand to me, and I reached back._

" _Look… Kid, there'll be plenty of time for reminiscing and apologies later. But right now WE NEED TO GET OUT." He looked at me with a smirk on his face. "Welcome to the Insurrection kid."_

 ** _That's the first chapter_**

 ** _This is a later edit to new readers to let them know that this and the next chapter are pretty short. I made these chapters as introductions. The chapters from there become longer. The most recent, Chapter 5 is about 4,000 words long._**


	2. Chapter 2 A Warm Welcoming

Chapter 2

A Warm Welcoming

"You realize we could've killed you right?"

I looked at the officer speaking to me in the Pelican. He looked young with dark hair, blue eyes, refined chin. Yup he was a movie star alright. The kind you'd see young boy's flock to for the false image of war. He began speaking again.

"I mean, we had every reason to kill you… deserting in the middle of a war. A war that could end all of humanity. Do you honestly think at a time like this High Command or ONI couldn't sweep your death under the rug?"

I could practically feel the self righteousness pulse off him…

"You'd have to be quite a piece of shit to leave when we need as many as we can get…"

I waited calmly before my response. After all I didn't want to set the kid off…

Of course I knew my death could easily be hidden. Someone like me doesn't live 6 years in Force Recon ignorant to ONI and High Command's… Controversial decisions.

I finally decided to speak up.

"Look kid… I'm not gonna lie to ya', you look like a movie star so I'm gonna guess you haven't seen combat other than what's on your video feed, so listen closely." I had stood up from my seat and looked him dead in the eye.

"I didn't leave this war because I didn't want to fight the Covenant… I left this war because I got tired of fighting each other!"

After my captor and I had escaped he took me back to another Insurrectionist base. From there he told the person in charge of my actions. Apparently, that was enough to land me a one way ticket as a foot soldier in the Insurrection. From there they trained me. I had already spent a good 4 years in captivity so I needed to get some proper nutrition and get nursed back to full health. After the hardship of training I was briefed on our enemy in full with the rest of the grunts.

The CMA had been disbanded.

The UNSC had taken a bigger role in the outer colonies. It appeared that the Insurrection had just woke the sleeping beast.

After that, I got sent out on a mission. I'd rather not explain what happened. The first mission is always the hardest, I guess.

One after another I kept going on assignments. Each one bringing more bloodshed. Each one cementing my image in the Insurrection as a harbinger of death for the UNSC.

Eventually I ran into an unstoppable force. I don't know what the fuck it was. But whatever it was? Look, if I was a harbinger of death then this thing was death itself.

All my time in captivity had taught me how to survive without much to work with. I always said that was why I hadn't died on any of my missions. But this… This time I got fucking lucky. Even now as I think over it I don't know how I survived. All I know is that almost every second one of my comrades fell. That thing had pin-point accuracy and could get behind you before you would even know it was there. Every movement they made was calculated to the dot and synchronized with each other perfectly.

Like I said...I got lucky.

I escaped the massacre at our base and got back to the nearest city. I had dumped my uniform, gear, anything that could be used to identify me as an Insurrectionist. I knew that if the UNSC had those… machines on their side's our war was over… We've lost.

So I laid low, got a job at a local bar and constantly looked over my shoulder. Then the rumors started coming in. First contact this and Aliens that. Didn't really bother me at the time but once the news spread the Harvest had been destroyed… Well… The UNSC seemed to loosen their grip on the outer colonies. Eventually more news came in that more colonies had fell. More people started disappearing from the bar and around the city. Recruitment for the UNSC was at an all time high. Some planet's even had mandatory enlistment.

Where others saw fear… I saw an opportunity

The UNSC had been cracking down on former Insurrectionists with those new machines of theirs. So when I heard that the UNSC was desperate for new recruits that they didn't bother with deep background checks, I realized I had found my way to stop looking over my shoulder.

Now while some former Insurrectionists may of had some problems joining the enemy, I sure as hell didn't. In all honesty I had only joined the Insurrection because, well realistically had nowhere else to go. I didn't care for their ideals, shit I didn't even care who I was fighting or even who I was killing. I just wanted a bed to sleep in and food to eat.

So I enlisted in the UNSC Marine Corps...


	3. Chapter 3 A Familiar Situation

Chapter 3

A Familiar situation

The Pelican had finished docking on the UNSC Halcyon Cruiser " _Ascension"_. When I first joined up I was originally stationed on a Frigate. Temporarily of course. Once I had worked my way up they found that I, and my team, be moved to a Halcyon for… Well they didn't really tell us why, just that we had to. Best guess… Easier movement and deployment. On the Frigate we always needed a Halcyon or a few other Frigates before deploying us somewhere. Even on simple Recon or S&D missions.

"Alright old timer… Get up and get moving!" The officer I had a dispute with earlier seemed like he wanted to get rid of me as soon as possible… Can't really blame em'. Even as a Sergeant I was tough to manage.

"Hey who you calling old pip squeak!?" That wasn't just a meaningless insult, I stood a good few inches over him. But truth be told I guess I earned the title old after all I've been through. I signed up when I was 23… Now I was 32. Not many people see as much combat with the covies as I do and get that old.

"Just get your sorry ass of my bird" Now the pilot was in on it. Shouting at me from the cockpit.

I did as they told me and got out of the Pelican… Only to see an armed escort waiting for me on the flight deck.

"Look's like I have an audience… And to who do I owe this pleasure to?"

A black man walked out of the escort and towards me. He had a small dark beard wrapped around his face and over his lip, although small pockets of white could be seen on it. He had brown eye's and a scar going from his right temple reaching down to his chin. He couldn't of been older than 35.

He was clearly a Naval officer, that could be shown by the medals and ribbons pinned to his chest over his pure white uniform and Navy officer cap.

He looked me dead in the eyes and stared at me for a good 5 seconds.

"Does the name Commander B.K Oswald ring any bells you piece of shit?"

Oh great this asshole again…

Joining the Marines was easy. I didn't even have to fake anything. No background checks. No questioning. Nothing. The UNSC must be really hurting if they're this loose about recruitment. But then again that meant I was about to go into the meat grinder and I knew it.

If Insurrection training was hard then this was hell. At least that's what I thought at the time. 6 mile runs, obstacle courses meant to break you before you were halfway done, hand-to-hand combat training that only softened you up for the obstacle course, the drill sergeant's constantly on your ass 24/7. But I suppose it was for the best, honestly without that hard initial training I would of gone down in my first firefight.

So I did what I do best. Adapt and survive. I already had about 3 years of Innie combat in me and trust me I didn't get the nickname _"Harbinger"_ for nothing. I quickly learned and effectively learned our style of hand-to-hand combat. I soon got back in shape and each run soon felt like a light jog. The drill sergeant's couldn't crack me no matter how hard they tried. In the end I survived like I always do.

Then boot camp ended… I was assigned to Kilo company, the cannon fodder and frontline infantry. Now I realize that I had caught the eye of my drill sergeants and higher up's who could occasionally see how the new batch of trainees were doing. My assignment to Kilo company was a test, a right of passage of sorts to the next step in being a Marine.

I thought my experience, my training, my skills, made me invincible… I was wrong.

On my first deployment I was pulled out of cryo to late. A malfunction with the pod they said. Might of been them testing how well I could adapt to the situation, might not of. When the finally got me out my company had almost finished gearing up and had already been briefed on the mission. I had to bust ass to catch up. Throwing on my gear as quick as I could, inspecting my weapons, grabbing ammo. I eventually did catch up and got ready to board the Pelican down. I had barely made it in so I had to strap in quick. Re-entering the planet's atmosphere wasn't to bad, but bad enough to make me ask the 1 question I NEEDED to ask. What the hell was the objective.

Landing wasn't fun either. On our way down we were shot down by Covenant AA fire. Only about 1 third of the attack force actually landed near the LZ. The only one's that made it near it were the ones that crashed and only 3 had crashed.

Of the ones that crashed 1 of them was completely fatal. With both the pilot's and the passengers going up in flames. We could still hear their screams over the radio. The other Pelican had lost their pilots, 3 Marines, and had 5 injured. My Pelican's pilot somehow managed to crash land us saving the lives of all the passengers. Once we had re-established communications we had learned that the 9 Pelican assault force that was sent down had of course been chopped down to 6 but had to dust off from the original LZ and land miles south of it. Of course the Covenant was quick to capitalize on this and immediately engaged the main assault force with ground troops. Effectively cutting us off from them.

We had decided to try and RV with the rest of the survivors. So we contacted the survivors of the second crash site and told them to bunker down until we could reach them.

It was a long walk there but we stayed quite and finally reached the crash site… They were all dead. We didn't dwell on it long. We tried to contact to main force again to update them on the situation. But every attempt failed. They had jammed our comms. With nothing else to do we devised a plan. The bulk of their AA fire was coming from the mountains a 5 klicks East of our location. Our tech guys had also narrowed down the location of the jammers to about a kilometer of land North East of our location. So we what was left of our company half 'n' half to handle them. I was assigned to handle the AA guns with the other half of Kilo company…

 _We had already jogged through 4 klicks of the forested terrain that surrounded us. Maybe this was once a hot tourist spot? I could see why, verdant hills, luscious forests and far as the eye could see with calm rivers and lakes residing within them, tall mountains bursting out of the forest canopy. But that didn't matter right now. We had reached the base of the mountain and could see the small firebase protecting the AA guns. That only meant we had to hike a small kilometer up the mountain to get to it._

 _We had split out half of the company into small fireteams to more easily manage who did what. We already had 1 small fireteam acting as snipers above the base and another acting as support, small mortar teams. My team however, we'd be the first ones in. The mortar teams had quickly lined up shot's that would quickly cripple the outer defenses and allow us to swiftly move in and fuck shit up. We only had to wait for the signal…_

 _The sound of mortar shells ripping through the air filled my ears followed by explosions going off outside the base and on the walls. Blowing holes in the fortifications. It didn't last long though 1 quick volley and we we're ready to go. We sprung up from the rocks 100 meters away from the front gate and rushed towards it. All around us layed broken bodies of the alien bastards and their blood splattered everywhere. Before we knew it we were inside the base and pushing through the main courtyard. I had finally gotten myself in some real action._

 _Round's flew past my head and hit the objects behind me._

 _Then I saw it._

 _My first kill._

 _It was a small bird like creature with an energy shield strapped to it's forearms. It was hideous. That was a good thing. Made killing it all the more enjoyable. I aimed my MA5B at it's ugly head and unloaded 3 rounds into it. The creature's brain matter splattering against the boxes behind it along with small bits of bone from its skull._

 _I didn't get anylonger to take it all in as my team came under a wave of fire._

 _Goddamnit where was the support team there were supposed to be here by now._

" _HEY REEVE'S TRY AND FLANK TO YOUR RIGHT GET BEHIND EM'! WE'LL KEEP THEM DISTRAC-SHIT!" My teammate sheldon yelled._

 _I did as he asked and began to slowly crouch my way around the boxes I had taken cover behind. Once I was in firing position I had a clear line of sight on the MG that had us pinned._

 _A small little… Monkey? Like creature it had scales across it's arms and a gigantic triangle pack on it's back with a… Gas mask on it's face. Didn't bother me though I took aim and shot it in the side of the head._

 _In the corner of my eye I saw something racing towards me. And it was fast._

 _Instinctively I rolled backwards and took aim at whatever had rushed me. In hindsight I should've just ran. The thing was tall and and had mandibles for it's mouth, it had small eyes, and lot's of muscle on it._

 _The box I was taking cover with beforehand had just been cut in half and the thing rushed me again. But this time with more thought than before._

 _Of course I did what any logical being would do when face in this situation… I tried to unload my entire fucking mag into that things face… But it was fast and of the rounds it wasn't able to dodge, the bullets just hit a shield around it._

 _It quickly got closer with each second._

 _Round after round it got closer._

 _And closer._

 _And closer._

 _Then I heard the dreadful clicking of my weapon._

 _I looked up to see it only a few inches from me._

 _So I dove right into it. Admittedly not the best idea but one I had to try. It seemed it wasn't expecting it. Good I had the advantage here. I quickly pulled my knife from my chest and looked for a place to "insert" it once I landed ontop of him._

 _I found it._

 _A small open piece right in where I could only assume the kidneys were._

 _So I quickly stabbed it there before it could throw me off it. Once I had the knife inside it I ripped it up his body with all the strength I had. I had just left a huge gash in the side of his body._

 _It then got a hold of me and threw me off it. It went for a gut punch but I rolled to the side. Once it's fist had impacted the ground I wrapped my legs around it's arm and quickly drew my sidearm. I quickly jabbed it in the face with the barrel of the gun and unloaded ever last round into it's mouth._

 _The thing dropped to the ground dead afterwards with a pool of purple blood surrounding the body. I quickly stood up and looked around. My team was nowhere in sight. I looked around the base for a few seconds before I them. The support team._

 _They rushed up to me and began checking me for injuries._

" _Goddamn Reeve's you just took down and elite!" The Leader of the support team proclaimed as the came to me. Wait what?_

" _Sorry… Elite?" I asked_

" _Yeah… Elite that thing" He pointed to the "Elite's" body. "Weren't you there for the briefing?"_

 _Of course they forgot with everything that's happened._

" _No I wasn't, the cryo malfunction."_

 _He just nodded at me knowingly._

" _Hey where's the rest of my team anyway?" I questioned._

" _Well why you were dealing with the elite, they had pushed through and are planting the explosives now"_

 _As if on cue I could see the AA guns go up in flames firing off clouds of electricity and fireballs of debris._

" _Comms are back up to. Our boy's at the jammers did well, The main force are back up in the air and will be landing here."_

 _So...We did it? Did we? I still didn't know the objective. Guess now's a good time._

" _Hey since I missed the briefing… What was our objective?"_

 _He looked at me and his face scrunched up for a second._

" _Spearhead the operation to retrieve some ONI… Package. then piss off the enemy enough to but ODST's time to retrieve it."_

 _So all of this just become a fucking distraction._

 _Suppose that's what ya get when you're a grunt..._


	4. Chapter 4 Old Friends

Chapter 4

Old Friends

God not this asshat again…

Anybody but him.

"Oh… Great, so what suicide mission do you want to send me on?" I deadpanned

Oswald pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. "Reeves. I brought you here because we need someone of your expertise again. Our recon teams are getting wiped out by the masses. We can't get any intel on our enemy."

So… That's why I'm here. They need an experienced asset.

"Look… You won't have to lose your rank, actually we plan on promoting you to 2nd Lieutenant. The last competent CO of ForCon went down a few missions ago."

Great now they want me to lead them…

"Follow me we'll discuss the details in a more… Secure location." He said while gesturing to the buzzing flight deck.

"Let's get this over with." I sighed

The walk was short. On our way we passed a few groups of Marines and even ODST's. I recognized a few faces, and they recognized me. Soon I could hear the whispers begin to form among them. Then the whispers turned into talk, the talk turned into shouts, until almost every Marine we passed was shouting my name.

Eventually we made our way to his office.

"Look I'm gonna drop the shit here… I know why you left, and honestly with your background I'm not surprised nor do shun it." He prodded

I guess it was about time that they found out about my past. Took em' long enough.

"So you finally found out about it. Let me guess ONI thought I was an Innie in disguise?"

He raised his eyebrow and seemed surprised.

"Yeah. You should've seen em' scrambling all over the place, Almost losing their heads. Eventually they found out that you slipped through the loose background checks at the beginning of the war." He said with almost slight pride in his voice.

"Figures… Now about those details?"

He seemed to slightly twitch at that… I could only guess why.

"Right… The front is like I said it is, We have lost a lot of recon teams in the past few months and the number is only rising." I could feel a but coming. "But that's not the only reason. ONI has been losing a lot of research facilities, bases, observation stations, etc. Now normally we would just send in the ODST's. But since most ODST's are deployed from orbit that means most of them are permanently stationed on ships."

I could feel where this story was going.

"And most of those ships often go down before we can even deploy the ODST's effectively. And when we can the ship is often destroyed before they can extract them out leaving them on there own." I understood what that meant for the ODST's but not for me.

"So what you just want me to… Do a few ONI assignments on the side?" I asked.

"No… You and I both know that when your teams would be sent on retrieval missions, or S&D on ONI sights or UNSC installations. You always excelled there with not only your navigation of the bases but tactics as well . Something you got from your insurrection days. We want you to train these new recon teams to handle missions like this when we can't deploy ODSTs or Spartans." He finished.

Okay… That made sense but that left me with one more question.

"So if ONI and High Command knew about my insurrection day's why didn't they just shoot me planetside?" I questioned

Oswald gave a quick snort to that question and a grin plastered his face.

"Let's just say I gave a good word in for them." And that was all I needed to know.

It was a tough decision, but I didn't have many options. I've gotten so tired of the bloodshed, but this late into the war we'd be exclusively fighting covenant. It's not like I really had a home to go back to. How long until the covenant find my new one… Guess I don't have a choice.

I lifted my hands up gesturing to the cuffs on my wrists.

"When do I start?"

 _The ride back was long and painful. Not that I had been injured in anyway. ONI had got what they wanted. Apparently our little stunt kicked up the Covie battle net enough to buy time for ODSTs to grab whatever the hell ONI wanted inside that building. But in that short time the assault force had been met with an onslaught of Covie bastards._

 _Hordes of the little fuckers came up the hill only to be met with gunfire. Then the bird like… Jackals as we call them would pick off our LMG's and HMG's after they were down we became prey to the upper species of the Covenant. Elites and Jackals were either racing up the hill under the cover of their grunt's or getting deployed by dropships right on top of us. Once the helljumpers had the package secure the evac order was given._

 _15 minutes to work our way halfway up the small mountain to a suitable LZ… Or get left behind. And trust me we didn't sonter our way up._

 _We charged up the side of the mountain scaling rocks and hiking trails as fast as we could while under heavy enemy fire. By the time we made it to the top Kilo company had all but been decimated with only a handful of people left. Me, PFC Sheldon, PVT Asheval, and Corporal Forman._

 _We looked down only to see the bodies of our fallen comrades sprawled out along the way up._

 _That's what made the ride so painful._

 _But not unbearable. I was used to losing people._

 _Once the Pelican broke orbit and docked with our Frigate the "Magnificence" we were ordered to cryo storage. The fleet was in full retreat. We had lost… Well I use "we" as a broad term it was a victory in ONIs eyes._

 _Once we had stripped down and got into to cryo the ship began a slipspace jump with the rest of the fleet._

 _And that was the last thing I remembered before I woke up._

 _When I was woken I looked around to see 2 destroyed pod's and and another damaged but that wasn't what surprised me the most. In front of me were 3 Marines. 1 Corporal, 1 PFC, and 1 Captain._

 _And this is how I met the Marine Force Reconnaissance. They wore a standard Marine BDU only with a woodland camo under their armor. The armor itself only had a few differences from standard Marine armor. For example the helmet's they wore. The helmet went around their entire head, sealing it off. Near the top of the helmet, where the eyes were, it protruded outwards from the helmet, on the side of the helmet was a standard combat light. They wore ODST knee pads and had light shoulder plating._

 _Once the blur of being awoken so abruptly wore off I realized what helmet they were actually wearing. It was the Gungnir helmet. The Captain came next to my hunch over form as I spat out the gel they always told us to swallow, while the other 2 guarded the door to the room. The Captain slung his battle rifle behind his back and offered me a hand. I took the offer and was helped up to my feet._

" _W-What the hell… is going on" I wheezed out_

 _For a good few seconds he just looked at me before speaking._

" _Covie attack. They followed us through slipspace and are about to board soon, they bombarded the ship first however. Whatever the ODST's took back there, they want back. As for the jump itself we made a one in a million shot and landed next to a UNSC installation. A planet called Orion. The Corvette that followed us through has dispatched boarding parties for the ship and ground forces for the planet. We've currently jammed it's comms so it can't call for help but we need to hurry." He gestured to the door. His voice was monotone, almost bordering boredom under the right circumstances._

 _It didn't take a genius to get what he meant. He wanted me to gear up quickly._

" _As for your comrades in Kilo company...I'm sorry to say that you're the only one capable of actually fighting the rest either got injured in their pods and the other remaining companies are else where on the ship. And some…" He pointed at the few destroyed pods._

 _He handed me his sidearm and grabbed his battle rifle. I was still in the nude but that didn't matter at the moment. We jogged through the ship towards the Marine bunks. Pilots were scrambling to their longswords, Naval crew rushing to their stations, and engineers trying to fix what they could. It was absolute chaos, controlled chaos but chaos._

 _Once we reached the bunk's they told me they would wait for me on the upper flight deck as that's what the covies usually attacked first._

 _I had to prioritize what I needed. So I threw on my underwear and pant's then grabbed my armor and geared up. I made a quick stop at the armory for my assault rifle and ammo and ra to the flight deck. I opened to door to the flight deck to see it in shambles. Marines lay injured or dead and only a few actually still fighting. The Covies had flooded the upper flight deck and were beginning to overrun it. I ran forward to the nearest piece of cover and shot at the incoming enemies. For each one we took out 2 more Marines fell until it came down to just me and the ForCon members holding it down. And by then we had cut the enemy down to only a handful._

 _We stood up and observed the flight deck. Nothing was still alive after that. Only us._

 _We stood there for almost 30 seconds in silence. The 3 ForCon members looking at each other under their helmets. Almost as if they were having a secret conversations. Eventually the Captain broke the silence and spoke to me._

" _We're being retask to support ground assets planetside. We'll be dropping in 2 mikes. Normally this would never happen but given the circumstances I think we might have no choice. Reeves do you know how to work a SOEIV" He stated blankly._

" _I-Uh...What?" I asked dumbfounded._

 _One of the others stepped forward and slapped me of the back of the head. "Drop pods idiot!" I looked blankly at him and shook my head._

 _Once again they looked at each other for almost a minute now in silence._

 _The once again the Captain spoke up._

" _We'll give you the crash course, we're gonna need another on the ground with us"_

 _Wait… What. Drop pods are extremely dangerous and can take months to properly control, and they wanted to give me a less than a minute crash course and drop with them. ForCon would often drop into locations for recon missions and such but this could be bad. Still I knew that the Captain wasn't asking but more so ordering me to so in my head I gave myself a clear mission._

 _Adapt and survive..._

 _Easy enough._


	5. Chapter 5 Limits

Chapter 5

Limits

So after my very… Warm welcome back aboard I got to business. Many people weren't satisfied about my new position in the chain of command but frankly they can go fuck themselves. Before I'm gonna even consider making a new training guideline for our new regiments of ForCon that just got passed first selection. I need some damn food.

I sat up from my bunk grabbed my patrol cap, placed it on my head, dressed in my woodland BDU, and walked up to my mirror. I inspected my face for what felt like the thousandth time. Same as it's been for the last 2 years, grizzled beard with patches of white, dark brown eyes that only seemed to be more and more empty as the days pass, the left side of my face with slight burn scars from a close call with a plasma grenade, my head that only seemed to lose more hair every hour. Yup...that was me. I spit in the sink below the mirror and walked out my quarters.

By the time I made it to the mess hall I had already dealt with some disrespectful shit Sergeants who must of known me back when they were Privates. This type of shit was why I left the goddamn Marines in the first place.

After I had reached the line for food in the mess hall, I tried to lay low. Thankfully no problems arose in the line. I grabbed my food and looked for a far corner in the hall to eat. Once I found it I sat down and began eating and thinking about new training regimens for the new guys. Out of the corner of my eye I see a group of 3 people walking up to my table. This is gonna be good.

The 3 of them looked to be in maybe their late 20's, early 30's. Good. They weren't rookies. Eventually I got a look at the rank insignia they had on their arm. In the middle of the group was a white man with brown hair and green eyes, he had a chiseled chin, and almost no imperfections on his face, he was a Master Sergeant. The one on his right was a hispanic looking man with thick black hair, brown eyes, a single scar running down his temple to the top of his eye, a Staff Sergeant. The final one to the left was a woman who appeared to be of Asian descent, she had blue eyes, no scars and… Was that fucking makeup! Goddamn how the hell are these people NCO's. Her rank was that of a Gunnery Sergeant.

He threw my tray off the table and slammed both of his hands down lurching over me. I looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you?"

He then, not really to my surprise, slapped me across the face and pushed me off my seat.

"You absolute piece of shit. You have the balls to even leave your quarters after the shit you've done. Honestly they should've just shot you back on the planet, it's not like you saw it coming? The hell was the Commander thinking, promoting a deserter like you to a position over a Special Forces group like ForCon?!" He shouted.

After I got back up, I dusted off my uniform and tilted my head at him with a bored look.

"Look dipshit, I outranked all of you before I left and I outrank you now. I'm not one to file reports rather than deal with these things directly and in my own way?" I took a quick pause and looked around the room. We had everyone's attention.

"And if you call identifying all 4 ODST's they sent to take me in before they even tried to pursue me as well as leading them into a trap laced with C4 then yeah… I didn't see it coming." He looked at me with a furrowed brow, crunched his fists and gritted his teeth. His companions looked ready for a fight too.

"I'm giving you one chance to turn around and walk away if not then just stop staring at me and let's fight already I have things to do today." After a good 2 seconds they made the first move.

The Master Sergeant swung first right at my jaw. I leaned back avoiding the fist, I then hooked my arm under his and grabbed his shoulder. I then took my left arm and grabbed his wrist, twisted it backwards, kicked his support leg out from him dropping him to the floor, and held him in a Marine arm lock. I quickly grabbed his head, breaking the lock, but before he could react I smashed his head into the floor knocking him out.

The other 2 ran at me and tried to kick me in the head while I was still kneeling down. I blocked my head with my forearms taking the hit. I quickly sprung up from my kneeling position, elbowed the Staff Sergeant in the chin with my left, countered a punch from the female Gunnery Sergeant, knocking her punch out of the way with my right elbow and jabbing her in the head with my right.

This move staggered both of them but the MSgt was quick to retaliate he quickly got back into his stance and took a quick stride to my left. He was trying to get behind me.

I got into a boxing stance and did a left shoulder slip. This caused his punch to over shoot my shoulder and go past it. While his arm was outstretched past me I quickly wrapped my left arm around it grabbing under his bicep and twisted most of his arm back leaving only his right arm for defensive. I was quick to use my advantage however. I gave a quick upper cut followed by a right hook across his jaw. As his body began to reel back from the blows I grabbed the back of his head and brought it down for a quick knee right in the center of his face. I let go of his body as it connected, jolting his body upright before falling back to the ground unconscious.

The final opponent, the GySgt quickly got into a boxing stance also and followed up with quick jabs and short crosses. I was more experienced however. I took my right leg and placed in between both of her feet and broke into her guard. From there I quickly sent low hooks to her ribs and a knee to the gut. She didn't like it.

Out of raw instinct or anger she grabbed a knife from a nearby table and took a few swings at me. A few got me only in the forearms and left side rib area. I reacted quickly and started dodging the knife strikes, I followed up with quick counters, locking my forearms with the inside of hers and re directing her strikes. Before she knew it I had sent 1 punche each to her head, stomach and rib areas, elbowed her in the side of the face, grabbed her knife hand, kicked her right leg from under her, slammed her to the ground, and knocked her out with the butt-end of the knife.

I stood up to see the crowd around me in pure shock… Or fear. Whatever it was I didn't stay long enough to find out. The whole fight had only lasted about 30 seconds or so but that was quick enough for someone to get the MP's. Right before I could leave the mess hall however they broke through the crowd. Strangely enough they only seemed interested in the 3 NCO's. Someone must of notified them about the situation in full. Including who attacked first. I didn't need to stick around however. I walked back to my quarters and sat down at my desk, writing down new ideas for training. And if one thing from today told me about even the NCO's in the Marines. They were sloppy, and my ForCon had to be better tenfold, and the same went for the grunts too.

If we wanted to win this war we all had to be the best we could be… I also might need a really BIG fucking band-aid for these cuts on my arms and left ribs?

 _After my little crash course of "How Not To Fuck Up Falling into Orbit" 101. I grabbed the top half of my BDU and ammo. Got ready to drop and said my last prayers._

 _The guys seemed to have confidence I'd make it… Past the stratosphere before passing out. So I didn't go in it expecting to live. But i didn't make it this far by simply quitting when things got rough… Or bloody._

 _We all rushed to the pod bay as fast as we could, set a drop zone, made a quick plan of how we'd retake the base, and got into our pods. So here I am. In a metal coffin aimed right at the ground hundreds and hundreds of feet below us. Frankly I couldn't wait._

 _The Captain came over comms and began our radio check. The screens on both sides of the pod's hatch lit up. One with static and one with the Captain's face… Helmet I guess._

" _Alright ladies. We've got a simply objective, provide support for ground assets in firebase Helix. Begin radio check." He stated on the comms, once again in his extremely monotone voice._

 _The Corporal came on comms and briefly flashed on the screen to my left, parallel of the Captain. "Corporal Havoc checking in. Delta-India-Charlie-Kilo." The Corporal, now known as Havoc had an almost sadistic tone in his voice. But it was hidden under his tone of charisma and charm that just emanated from said voice._

 _The screen the Corporal appeared on flashed with static before switching to another face… Helmet. You get what I mean. I wouldn't of even known it was a different person under that gungnir helmet were it not for the markings on them that I had just now noticed. Havoc had spray painted orange flames on his helmet followed by a grey skull that could just barely be seen on the top of it. This new figure however had just standard woodland camo on the helmet that matched his kit. "PFC Schiller checking in. Hotel-Oscar-Mike-Echo." It seemed as if his vocal cords had been ruined but he still had this calm and intellectual tone of._

 _The screen flashed to static. Leaving only the right screen with the Captain on it left._

 _I knew it was my turn now so I switched on my screen and began. "Private Reeves checking in. Kilo-India-Lima-Lima." I then switched my screen off and took a hold of the control sticks._

 _The pod bay doors opened and our pods shifted right to face to black of space and the shining sight of the planet below us. This time the Captain came over comms but the screens remained blank. "Dropping in 3…2...1." And like the man said the pods shot out from their latches and down to the surface below._

" _You still with us young blood?" Havoc half questioned half laughed. Now let it be said I was use to entering atmosphere on a bumpy ride in a pelican. But that was way different from a pod. I was constantly shaking from the drop which led my response being one of vibration. "F-F-Fuck Y-Y-You." The rest of the way through the atmosphere was quiet on comms but sounded like the gates of hell were opening in my pod. The heat was deathly, the noise deafening, and the fear constant. Eventually I willed myself to check my altitude. Only to see I had a few hundred feet to go. Which in "falling out of orbit talk" meant that I had about 5 seconds. As the ground got closer I felt the fear fade from my body and be replaced with what I could only assume was adrenaline._

 _The pod hit the ground with a bit of an underwhelming boom, if a boom can be considered underwhelming. The impact sent a jolt through my body, which only seemed to pump the adrenaline further. 3 other pod's landed outside the pods window leaving only a few 30-40 feet away from each other._

 _The hatch of the pod's gave a loud 'hiss' before bursting right off. I grabbed my Ma37 from the weapon slot and stepped out of the pod._

 _We didn't waste anytime and got moving. We had dropped about half a mile away from the base and even that was considered close for a drop._

" _Last known transmission came about 2 minutes ago and the situation seemed to be bad. Heavy infantry including brutes, elites, and jackals. They've also got light-vehicles too. Mainly ghosts." The Captain stated as we sprinted through the dense jungle of the planet. The rest of the run was silent. Not a single word was uttered except the occasional grunt. The rest was spoken through hand motions._

 _When we reached the base it was outright chaos. The East wall had a giant hole in it that Elites and Jackal tried to pour through, the front gate was getting stormed by waves of Brutes, and the West and South wall were being attacked by Ghosts. We proceeded to creep our way out of the vale of the jungle and towards the East wall. Once we had gotten behind the Elites and Jackals that tried to force their way in we took aim and prepped to fire at the few that were outside the wall waiting to push in._

" _Reeves get the one on the left. The Elite." Schiller commanded in a hushed tone. "Got 'im" I whispered back. I quickly took aim at the tall figure's head and waited patiently for the other 3 to find their targets. In the corner of my eye I saw the Captain place his hand in the air with 3 fingers up and slowly counted down from 3._

 _The third finger went down. I took in a breath._

 _The second finger went down. I counted the seconds in between heartbeats._

 _The final finger went down. I made a full pull of the trigger and let out a controlled 5-round burst into the Elite's head._

 _The Elite's head craned backwards as the rest of it's body went limp and fell with it._

 _I was so focused that when we had moved up to the hole in the wall I had been basically been on complete auto-pilot and hadn't even thought about it. Once we got a look inside we could actually see how bad the situation. In the main courtyard of the base was a semi circle of sandbags and improvised barricades with MG's place at the 12, 3, and 9 O'Clock of the semi circle. The semi circle was based around a door that lead deeper in the base._

" _Alright Reeve's your with Havoc help the rest of the Marines retake the courtyard. Flank around the Elites and Jackals that entered through this wall. Me and Schiller will go around the front and try and bring the pressure off the guys at the front gate." The Captain said just as he and Schiller turned around and went along the outside of the wall towards the front gate._

 _Havoc looked at me and jerked his head in the general direction of the fight. A clear signal to go. We snuck up behind another group that was attacking the courtyards 9 O'Clock. The MG on that side was attempting to try and keep the covies suppressed but the Jackal's kept taking pot shots at the gunner. Then Havoc pulled out the grenade launcher latched onto his back and took aim at a group of fusion coils near the group ahead of us._

" _When those fusion coils blow it'll take out the main group in front of us. I need you to keep those Jackals up high from taking off my head while I deal with the stragglers. Okay?" I gave a quick nod and took aim at the closest Jackal._

 _Havoc fired off the shot. The fusion coils exploded in a show of fury and bulk of the group was completely decimated. As for the mentioned stragglers,.They either were knocked off their feet and sent face first into the concrete floor or got cut up by the shrapnel, breaking their shields, and leaving them standing there. Helpless._

 _I quickly took the opportunity and left the first sniper with holes all over their chest. The second sniper was quick to react however and took a few quick innacurate shots at me. He missed all 3 before I iced him and moved on to the third and final sniper. This sniper had enough time to react and was able to get a few quick shot's off on me that almost found their mark. I simply replied by making quick peeks with a hail of bullets. Eventually Havoc finished up and took the final shot at the sniper._

" _Always in need of help young blood, eh?" He chuckled. I just shook my head disapprovingly and moved towards some large pipes that would make some good cover to shoot at the front gate. Speaking of which._

" _Hey, Cap. We could really use that little solution you and Schiller are working up. Brutes are getting bolder and the Marines seem to be running low on ammo." I half asked over comms._

 _As if waiting for me 3 distinct explosions went off in the horde of brutes sending what looked like 13+ flying and knocking over about 8 more leaving the rest as cannon fodder for the MG in the courtyard._

" _Problem solved Reeves." Schiller laughed over comms._

 _We still had one more problem to deal with. The Ghosts. But for some reason I couldn't hear the hum of the machines inside it on the other side of the wall. "What about those Ghosts?" I questioned._

" _Dealt with." The Captain stated in his monotone voice over comms._

 _So that was it. That simple…. That was knew._

 _We moved to the semi circle in the courtyard to check on the Marines there. They had a lot of wounded in the middle. The MG's had almost been run completely run dry, save only a few rounds or so left in them. The Captain then asked those who were still conscious where their long range radio was located. Apparently they had also made another fortification there but during the initial strike on the base they had breached way deeper than we thought. Shutting down the radio, destroying a good amount of ammunition, and killing a few Marines in the process._

 _The Marines had fought valiantly to push them back to the courtyard but got stuck there. So they quickly made makeshift barricades and waited for help from the last message sent before the radio went down. They opened up the rest of the base for us as we investigated further. Now sadly no one in the ForCon team knew how to fix a radio system in the control center. However back in my Innie day's I had to re wire and fix up radio's, transmitters, etc, after a good firefight._

 _So I made up some story about how before I signed up I worked with my dad as a technician and we helped fix things like this. They bought it. So I got to work._

 _While I was fixing the thing up I saw that the Covenant tried to send a message out to their battle net, the information on it simply entailed the coordinates of this planet's location. Only made sense. They found a human planet but couldn't get a signal out because we were jamming them. So instead of trying to force their way onto the ship which was heavily defended. They created a diversion, they boarded our ship with the intent of buying time for their small teams to attack and isolated and small firebase then sending out a weak, I'll be it small, signal only entailing the coordinates of a new planet and... well… Let the bloodbath begin._

 _After I got the fucking thing working I handed over the keys to the Captain for him to let the ship know of the situation. He then called over Havoc to the other corner of the room and began… discussing something. I couldn't hear them._

 _Schiller walked up to me and gave me a light punch on the shoulder. "Looks like the Captain likes." He said to me. I gave a short hmph and rolled my eyes as if to say 'yeah right'._

 _From their Medevac was called down as well as normal extract for us. On the way up I couldn't help but notice… Or more like feel like the Captain's eyes were on me._

 _So here I am laying in my bunk and pondering over the day's events._

 _The metallic and whooshing sound of a door opening brings me out of my thoughts._

 _I jump out of my top bunk and look at the figure standing at the door. It's the Captain. He isn't wearing his combat gear and here I get a good look at him. He has blue eyes with black hair, a scar running across his left cheek, and just prickles of a beard on his face._

 _I stand at attention and salute him._

" _At ease Private."_

 _I still stood standing and looked at the Captain walking towards me. For some reason, now that someone else was in the room with me I realized how alone I just was. After all these were Kilo bunks. And as he said when I woke up. Most companies had injured Marines, maybe a few dead. But Kilo had lost almost everyone. Everyone but me. My shoulders slackened for a second._

" _Reeve's you showed quite the survivability out there today. And even on the OP before. Havoc told me that you fought like a machine with him while you retook the East wall. I also personally saw your fight during the flight deck boarding. I even have the logs of your engagement on Estaeo-7. You took down an Elite with nothing but a knife and a pistol. Not bad. You've got survivability and adaptability in you. And that's one hell of a trait to have, especially for a rookie like you." The Captain took a quick pause and smirked formed on his face._

" _So I'm promoting you to the rank of PFC and also giving you a chance. A chance to join the Marine elite. A chance to be something more." He outstretched his hand to me and said "A chance to join the Marine Force Reconnaissance." I took his hand and shook it._

" _It won't be easy and your gonna have to go through another training regimen and compete for it. But I got faith that you'll survive."_

 _And like that I was moved into the ForCon training program._

 **Author notes.**

 **Okay guys I finally got around to making the 5th chapter and I feel extremely proud of it. I'm also hoping to try and begin another story. Set in modern time. In a modern war or such. So I'm thinking about creating a poll and seeing if you guys want me to either.**

 **WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING. FOCUS ON THIS STORY YOU IDIOT**

 **Or**

 **B. YOU BETTER BRANCH THE FUCK OUT AND MAKE ANOTHER TYPE OF STORY.**

 **Again the new story will star the same character Reeves. As will a few other stories I plan to write in the near future. It will be set in modern times, with a modern enemy. If B does win and I make a new story I'll post another poll or something and see if you want either.**

 **An enemy like insurgents, taliban, ISIS, ETC**

 **A uniformed enemy and kinda a WW3 type thing but without the nukes.**

 **Please leave reviews it helps me know if you like what I make and how I can get better.**

 **I'm trying to make the chapters get progressively longer and longer. I know my first 2 were pretty short.**

 **Thank you for reading.**

 **Signing off.**


	6. Chapter 6 A New Type of Marine

Chapter 6

A New Type of Marine

 **Okay. So it appears my message went unnoticed. Please, please, please, leave a review. I see that lot's of people have viewed the story but I don't know if you even like it. So please leave a review.**

After I had gotten some bandages for the cuts on my arms I returned to my study and began revamping the training regimens. So here I am sitting here with almost no plans even written down. Every good idea would take years for them to complete or be to short for them to be really ready.

Then like a strike of lightning hitting me. I got it. It would be cheap, timely, and hard. However I had one problem with it. The fact that I could possibly kill the entire class if they couldn't do it.

I'd teach them the way I learned. Lack of nutrition, faced with death each day, mandatory adaptability, I'll turn them into leaders off the battlefield, and pure unfeeling killers on it. The plan seemed perfect. They would learn almost exactly like I did, for all they knew, the moment the joined training they'd become like POW's.

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. I leaned back in my chair, the pen still in my fingers, and looked at the door. "Come in!" I shouted. The door slid open revealing the Commander at the door with a very unpleasant frown plastered on his face. This is probably about the mess hall.

"Reeves, you've got some shit to answer for." He commanded. He had stepped into my room which illuminated his dark face as he glared at me.

"Look man, they swung first. I was simply protecting myself." I raised my hands innocently and gave a shoulder shrug while still leaning in my swivel chair.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned up against the locker in the wall of the room. "I understand it was self-defense, I also understand that you had every right to do what you did. However that's no reason for a fucking 2ND LIEUTENANT TO COMPLETELY WIPE THE FLOOR WITH 2 NCO'S AND JUST LEAVE!" Oswald shouted.

I simply gave him a small grunt of understanding, dropped my feet of the desk and went back to work. Oswald just signed, kicked the locker he was leaning against and I love pissing the chain of command off. Probably why I never rose above Sergeant Major.

Once I presented the plan to the Commander he sent me down to the FOB on the planet we were stationed at. Once I had all the equipment, courses, and other fun surprises ready I sent a message up saying that it was time to open the training program. 5 pelicans filled to the brim with eager candidates came down, hoping to start a new path on their journey through the Marines. They even had some Marines from different ships, after all the message was given to the entire fleet stationed overhead.

We ushered the noobies out of the Pelicans in a rush and toward the assembly area. There they stood in about 10 rows all holding about 10 each. I paced back 'n' forth and through the lines. Observing each Marine as they held onto their rucksack carrying all the things they'll need for this 12 week program.

"Alright listen up. You all know why you're here. It's because you all "want" to become ForCon Marines. Force Reconnaissance is not something to take lightly. I'll tell you this. If you WANT to pass this program… You will. This is meant to find the people who really WANT it and those who don't." I took a small pause and looked at the front few as I'd made my way back in front of all of them. It seemed some of them had a lump in their throat they needed to swallow.

"Look… I can be your best friend, I can help you through this, and I can encourage you. OR I could be your worst fucking enemy and trust me I'll be on your fucking heels. As you all know when you signed up, this program can be potentially lethal to those who aren't up to par." I snapped my head toward another drill instructor. I jerked my head towards me and he quickly came up to me. "Chief Warrant Officer, dismiss the group and have them meet at the pool in…" I looked at my watch. " 7 minutes." The Warrant Officer gave a quick salute and a yes sir the proceeded to dismiss the group. "Marines you are to place your rucksacks on the ground remove all non-essential equipment that isn't your BDU and meet in the pool in seven minutes. MARINES, DISMISSED!." The Warrant Officer stated. All the Marines through up salute and in unison shouted yes sir. I then left towards the pool as I watched the candidates remove all the combat gear they had been wearing from the ship. It was now mandatory for them to wear full combat gear on the ship because of the constant threat of attack.

The Marines fell out into the pool one by one in a neat organized line. Good they worked just like a standard military unit, disciplined and orderly. I'm gonna love knocking the daylights out of all of them. I walked up to the line they had formed just a few feet from the edge of the pool. "All of you are to raise your arms in the air, keep them straight and look up as well. Anyone who is caught looking down will be SEVERELY punished." The Marines did as they were told and looked up. Each of my assistant drill instructors put in monitored weights in their left jacket pocket. A monitored weight was about the size of a hockey puck, however, the weight could be changed on the fly to increase or decrease it. They did this with advanced artificial gravity emitters inside it. The emitter would increase or decrease the gravitational pull on it, seemingly increasing its weight.

"Alright you may look down now. If any of you check your pockets, again there will be severe punishment. You are to move up the steps to the highest diving ledge and, in a single-file-line. Jump in one by one. MOVE IT!" I commanded.

The Marines rushed up the stairs and lined up all the way from the ledge down the stairs to the pool floor. After all their was about 114 of them. The Marine at the front of the line was awaiting the order to jump. I stood to the left of the ledge in the field of view of the Marines. I raised my hand to signal them to be on standby. I dropped my hand swiftly in a cutting motion "JUMP!" I shouted.

Marine after Marine they jumped into the pool and began treading water in 10 and half rows of ten. I looked down at all of them and quickly gave my orders.

"Good you have at least some familiarity with swimming. Now…" I slowly pulled the remote to the monitored weights and switched them to 80 pounds. "SURVIVE!" I pressed the ' _confirm'_ button, sending a signal to the weights to increase the gravitational pull.

Suddenly all the Marines heads were dragged under the water. The safety crew under the water in SCUBA gear was on standby to help those who couldn't get air. The other drill instructors in the pool control room had the solid pool cover over the surface except for the end of the pool, in the shallows that was open.

I ran over to the screens behind me and observed the Marines with the cameras underwater. They were struggling.

The had all been dragged to the bottom and were frantically trying to find a way back up. The strong ones were already at the would-be surface only to find the solid plastic cover with no room for air. As for the others, they were trying to get their bearings. I can't blame them, one second they are just treading water, the next their seemingly pulled down to the floor of the pool by, what I could only imagine in their heads, was cthulhu himself.

We had shone a very bright light at the other end of the pool where escape was. This way they could make the inference it was open at that side. As about 70 of them slowly realized that was their way out they struggled to swim towards it. After all they had approximately and entire equipment rucksack place on their hip in an instant. The other 30 or so that didn't know what to do were still struggling to move. Some of them tried to find the weight and remove it. Big no-no. Eventually in the 57.8 seconds they had spent under their 83 of them found their way to the surface, breaching through it with spent lungs and blood red eyes. The other 20 or so had either needed to be pulled out or passed out.

Out of those 20, 5 died, and 13 quit right then and their.

Out of the 83 that made it to the surface, 23 had pulled out their weights.

That left 72 out of 114 that properly passed the first test or didn't die.

This was gonna be a long few weeks.

The whole test lasted about 1 minute and 57 seconds until all Marines were out.

Of the 83 I mentioned earlier they were huddled in a group sitting down and mourning the 5 deaths. All instructors including myself joined them.

They were freezing, one thing I forgot to mention was that the moment they went under we turned the temperature down to almost -57 degrees celsius. That was meant to test their bodies. When the bodies get's cold it slows down, and if they slowed down they died.

I walked up to the group of Marines and told them to pull out their weights. Of course those who left them in the pull were shitting themselves the moment I said that. I asked one Marine to toss me his and I held it up.

"Do you all see this. This one, tiny thing held 13 people from achieve their goal, this tiny thing took the life of 5 Marines today. I made you do this today not only as a test but as a lesson. Do not let such tiny things stop you from surviving, achieving your goal or getting what you want…" I paused and tossed the Marine back his weight. "All of you holding up a weight right now. Stand up dry off and head to bunks. As for you that dumped your weight stay with me." The Marines that had their weights left to dry off and headed towards barracks.

I squatted down and looked at the few who were still sitting. I clicked my tongue a few times before speaking. "You realize I could fail all of you for that shit. Those weights were set to 80 pounds, the average weight of an equipment rucksack. You just left 80 pounds worth of, food, ammo, tools, and other types of equipment sitting a lake somewhere you got that." I pointed to all of them and got curt nods from them. I clicked my tongue a few more times and nodded. "You all owe me 15 laps around the pool, once you're done, wash up and get to barracks tell them their relieved for the day. Also tell them they have to be at formation at 0500 tomorrow" I stood up and got one of my assistants to supervise them as they did their laps as I headed to my quarters.

I stripped down to my undergarments and decided to hit the hay.

 _The training wasn't hell. It was suicide. Everything we did it sucked. From swim training to long distance running. It seemed they took Marine training and cranked it up to 12._

 _But I got through it._

 _Like I always do._

 _I was assigned to fireteam Phoenix as a lead rifleman in the 6th Force Reconnaissance company. I was moved back up to the Frigate the Magnificence with the rest of our Company and set a course for the nearest front. That front just so happened to be on the outer edge of the inner colonies._

 _Through all my time in training the Covenant had gained a lot of ground… Or space I guess since they just glassed a planet from orbit. We were told that the first Covenant responders had been sent down to the planet that I honestly can't remember the name of. So it was up to our fireteam and 3 others to scout them out._

 _Our sat feeds gave us a… Broad description of the terrain. It was a city. The Covenant for some reason hadn't destroyed it and were building up their defenses in the city. Since the UNSC wasn't use to tactics like this we were called to scout it out._

" _Alright fireteam Phoenix gear up it's time to move!" Our team leader, Estin, was already dressed in his full standard dark grey BDU, Gungnir helmet included. The plan was simple. We board up into our drop pods and get dropped in through the cover of a meteor shower. This tactic had been used before by ODST teams, but was very risky._

 _We all geared up and decided it was time to get to work. In the pod bay the silence was eerie. We had an even amount of experienced vets and eager rooks._

 _The drop wasn't so bad but it definitely still sucked._

 _After hitting the ground we radioed into the other Fireteams. On the way down intel told us it wasn't just one encampment but almost severely. So on our way down we had the fireteams split up to cover more ground. Our fireteam… Fireteam Phoenix was assigned to the 2 main ones with the most activity, we did after all have 3 experienced vets and just me so it made sense. We moved with a sense of urgency towards our target. As we got closer we realized the 2 encampments were connected through a series of skyscrapers and apartments. The base was also boxed in at all sides in it's courtyards by said buildings. So we cleared the rooftops and called in on the radio's what we saw._

 _A column of ghost's, 1 Wraith, multiple barricades blocking off road entrances, 6 anti-air shade turrets on the roofs, 4 infantry and anti-vehicle shade turrets in the courtyard and in the lower levels of the buildings, and enough infantry to capture this city._

 _Business as usual for the rest of the guy's… Terror for me._

 _After we had called out all valuable intel we could we contacted the other fireteams. Fireteam Granite and Onyx checked in. They also had confirmed their targets and were painting a picture for command. However we got no response from fireteam Saber, their last know location was in the sewers and any tunnels that run below the city. The plan was infantry would be moved underground to hit the covies while they were trying to deal with barrages of airstrikes, artillery, and tank columns hitting the city._

 _We knew that the moment they went under that they would go dark. Not even milspec radios can get through that much concrete and dirt._

 _Fireteam Onyx decided that they would shift over to our 2 objectives and keep tabs on them, fireteam Granite would stay behind on long range radios and relay information back to command, as for us we had to find fireteam Saber._

 _We had to work quick the assault was beginning in 2 hours with or without us so we couldn't dattle. We moved quickly through a manhole and traced back to s_

 _Saber's last known location. So here we are moving through tunnels and sewers._

" _Reeve's you hear that?" My teammate Havoc asked. I also forgot to mention that on this fireteam was me, Havoc, Schiller, and the Sergeant Estin. Estin was your classic no nonsense Sergeant and for that we respected him. "Ya'... Sounds like buzzing?" I responded on the internal comm link in our helmets._

 _The Sergeant made a hand gesture from the front of the diamond shaped formation. It was a clear signal to stop. He then made another motion with his hand swinging it down lightly towards the floor, the signal to take a knee. The mood was tense, almost 8 minutes now and nothing but the sound of our own footsteps, we couldn't even hear moving water as the sewage systems shut down when the covies took the city._

" _From what I'm reading on my HUD we have about 200 meters until we reach their last inferred location. Should be around the next corner." The Sergeant said. Suddenly the lights in the tunnels went out leaving us blind. "NVG now!" He barked. The moment we turned on our NVGs we saw a quick object fly by the corner and into the darkness dropping off a body._

 _Estin made a motion for me and Schiller to move up and investigate. We reached the body and flipped it over. It's face still held fear on it. All gear had been stripped of it leaving it only in it's bloody BDU. Facial recognition kicked in as I ID'd the body. It was Lance Corporal Rivierre, from fireteam saber._

 _I relayed the information through the local internal comm link to my teammates. Suddenly a blur flew right past Schiller and slammed me up against the wall then down to the ground. The thing was scaly and felt like a giant bug. It didn't take long for Schiller to shoot it and kick it off me. He offered me a hand and I got back up._

 _We heard more buzzing coming from each side of the tunnel. We made a diamond in the middle of the the perpendicular three-way intersection in the tunnels. Suddenly our NVGs started to glitch out and impair our visibility. We all quickly switched them off and looked at each other, gun's pointed down each tunnel way. "Switch to TAC-lights" Estin commanded. We lowered our guns and tapped a button on the side of our helmets. The TAC-lights on our weapons and helmets beamed to life illuminating the dark catacombs._

 _We all looked down to see a horde of buggers clinging to the side of the walls all now looking in our direction with curiosity or interest. Their wings fluttered slightly and their heads would suddenly twitch sa they looked at us. You could see their arms slowly raise and get ready to pounce. We took the initiative and aimed down our rifles. We all fired in synch gunning down target after target as they rushed us. Eventually the tunnel I was facing had a break in the horde. I shouted out loud for us to move. Schiller and Estin took the back and covered us as the both had the "crowd control weapons", me and Havoc took the front pushing through and making our way down the tunnel. Eventually we made our way to a water way in the sewers. On the other side was the entrance to the sewage plant above. The only problem was that their was no way across except to take the long way._

 _We all formed and advanced firing line and took down the buggers that followed us. When we had shot all of them down we looked for the way around. The map that was present on the wall next to the breaker panel said we had to double back and keep going forward where we took a right at the corner. We could hear the sounds of the buzzing so we didn't sit around and got moving._

" _Reeves you're on point. Diamond formation." Subtlety went out the window and we were now all talking out loud. We moved through the tunnels until we got to that three way intersection and peeked around the corner. Another rush of buggers was coming down the tunnel behind us. They had already spotted us and we had to keep moving. So I said the words we needed to hear._

" _EVERYONE FUCKING RUN NOW GO!" We all didn't even bother shooting back and ran down the tunnels. We rounded a corner with the things right on our tail and saw he had to cross a small bridge to get to the side that the sewage plant was on. We all sprinted across with me at the front._

 _Out of nowhere a bugger flew from the waterfall of shit and sewage water to our left and knocked me right down into the rapids below and sent me through the water way._

 _Of the few things I could see as was tossed and turned in the water. Bouncing off poles that were imbedded in the rapids of water. I just remember seeing a lot of shit. Eventually I took a hit so hard that is smashed a hole in my helmets. Now these helmets weren't the super expensive stuff you see on those damn machines, but were the knock off versions you'd see on guys like us._

 _Out of sheer will or a want to survive I took hold of one of the railings that was on the bottom walkways. I pulled myself up and dragged myself to the concrete. I pulled off my helmet and gasped for air. Bit's of small metal had fractured and was now stuck in my cheek and nose. I inspected the helmet. The classic Gungnir eye-thingy that protruded out the front was entirely smashed to pieces. No sense in wearing it now so I left int sitting on the side of the walkway. Not before I could pull any data that was stored in it though. I have no NVG or flashlights as I lost the helmet light and my rifle. I had nothing but my magnum on my hip._

 _I know that I wouldn't be able to navigate much further without light. I then remember the breaker panel next to the map that we passed earlier. I try and look around for some bearings and see another map. I'm only a few turns away from it. I memorise the map and make my way through the tunnels. I have no idea if these things can track sent so I roll in the sewage for a bit to hide it. When I find myself in another three way intersection I listen closely. I can hear the sounds of their wings buzzing, the sound of the clicking and twitching they make with their bodies. I identify that they are in the tunnel to my right._

 _Fuck. That's the way I need to go. I search myself for anything that could be useful. I eventually feel up a flare. Like a moth drawn to a flame am I right. I quickly pop the cap of and strike the tip. Before the flare can even ignite I muster all my strength and toss if as far back down the other tunnel as I can. It ignites for a second before landing in the sewage that sits in the middle of the tunnel. The flare didn't even catch their eye. I begin searching my kit again for another flare through tired and fearful hands._

 _Come on._

 _Come on._

 _GOTCHA!_

 _I ignite the flare and lob it down the tunnel. This caught the attention of all of them. I press myself up against the brick wall and concrete floors as the fly past me in flurry. As they past me more sewage and… Whatever else was on them hit's my face. Eventually all of them passed and I silently made my way down the tunnel and past the corner._

 _Just one more corner and I can reach the panel. I peek around the corner to see the outline of a lone bug chewing on the dead body of Rivierre in the darkness. I had no way around it. I drew my knife quickly and jumped on the thing. I placed my hand over what I assume was it's mouth and began stabbing it over and over again savoring every moment. It's blood spewed across my body and face. It's hands clawed at my arms to try and get me to stop. The thing's body went limp and I sheathed my knife. I reached the panel and read the controls the best I could in the black that surrounded me. I was able to dimly light the tunnels I needed to pass through. I walked through then with almost no encounters with the bugs. Then behind me I felt the air change. I could hear the buzzing. That damn buzzing. I had nowhere to go so I had to do something. As the buzzing got closer I hit the deck and dipped myself under the sewage. I could feel the air being beaten upon my by the flap of their wings. Eventually, like always they passed. I rounded the corner. Crossed the bridge and saw 2 ways up to the sewage plant. One was a staircase that had been completely blocked off and the other was a ladder. Seeing as I had no choice I climb the ladder._

 _I climbed the ladder step by step. Then one of the steps came out from under me. I slipped and banged my knee on the ladder making a loud BANG. I heard the sound of the hive waking up as the sounded echoed through the tunnels. I climbed as quick as I could, flung the upper hatch open with no regard for what lay above and through myself over while snapping it shut and locking it. Quickly back crawled my way away from the hatch as the hatch jumped up and up again as they tried to break through it. I held my breath anxiously and tried to get to my feet. Eventually they stopped and I let out a sigh of relief._

 _I let my thought gather and I realized where I was. I was in the middle level of the sewage plane which meant that the bridge back to the city was just above._

 _I also heard the sounds of war outside. I busted through one of the doors and observed the city. Buildings fell, explosions erupted at random, blood ran through the streets, human blood and alien blood mixed together forming pools of colour on the ground._

 _The assault had already begun and I was about to head right into the crossfire of it all. Now that I actually had the time to see and could see I looked at my gear. I was missing my rifle(duh), all of it's mags, 2 magnum mags, my radio, and a shoulder pad. I also was covered in shit. Not the first time._

 _I had a job to do and I knew the sooner I got to it the better._

 _I ran across the bridge and into the city._

 _Despite all I had thought earlier the outskirts of the city didn't seem to have any damage at all, aside from some bodies, bullet holes, plasma burns, bullet casings, and blood, pretty good condition._

 _As I made my way deeper into the city I avoided covie patrols left and right. I had yet to run into and friendly teams. That was bad. Eventually I found the body of one Marine that didn't have an empty mag or no ammunition on him. I grabbed his DMR and all the ammo he had on him. He also had no radio for some reason._

 _The deeper I went the more close calls I had. I had to actually take out a few Jackals on the rooftop's and match my shot's with the sound's of the fighters above. Eventually I got to the heart of the fighting. The 2 encampments my team had been assigned to. We had taken the bases and were now trying to defend against the counter attacks, I assumed at least._

 _As I snuck my way around the edge of the fighting through buildings I found a radio on another dead Marine. I picked it up and set it to the standard command frequency we use to get orders. Nothing came in, just static. It took me a minute to find out that radio was busted to._

 _That wasn't the only thing that was busted either. A Wraith just punched a hole in our defenses and now covies were flooding the damn place. The wraith driver shut off the engines and sat out of the driver's seat commanding his troops to take the base I imagine._

 _I waited for the rest of the covies to clear out around him and then I made my move. I snuck up behind the tank climbed on the back and drew my knife. The driver seemed to notice the noise I made as I climbed the tank, but it was too late. I had already stuck my knife inside his throat and repeated that about 3 times, and on the 3rd time I lodged it deeper into his throat and ripped it across. I mustered up what strength I have left and pulled him out._

 _I jumped inside the lone Wraith, closed the top hatch and fired upon enemy positions. I took out almost the entirety of the covies rushing the base. I then switched my attention to the snipers and rocketeers on the roofs. They had already deemed me a threat but it was too late. I blew them sky high. I turned the Wraith back to the base only to see a group of Marines slowly walking toward the me. I turned off the engines and let it hit the ground._

 _I opened the hatch and slowly lifted my hands out above my head and wiggled my fingers. I then lifted my head out to see them standing down. I jumped out and slid down the side of the tank. Now that the adrenaline had worn off I had just realized how tired and broken I was. My left arm with the missing shoulder pad pulsed with pain, my chest wanted to fall apart, and my legs felt broken, the probably were. I limped my way to the group of Marines and threw one my arms over their shoulders. They basically dragged me back to the base._

 _On the way back an officer came up to me and asked me a question._

" _Private where it the rest of your team?" He didn't ask in a malicious way but out of actual curiosity._

 _I tried my best to form words but my eyes were drooping so I just mumbled out the words in seemingly drunken language. "No...Idea sir. Got separated… Fireteam Phoenix…. Force Recon." I finished before almost passing out. As we passed the hole in the base's wall I blacked out._

 _When I came to I had a bandage around my head, arms, and a jackhammer of a headache. I also was on a sheet on the cold floor. So I wasn't out of the field. I grabbed my gear that sat next to me and walked among the base. Apparently the covies were making a tactical retreat deeper into the outskirts of the city. This looked like it would be an actual long battle after all._

 _Of course some rumors spread about my actions but I kept my head low. Eventually I asked someone if they could direct me to the Force Recon fireteams. They were on the 4th floor of the apartment building. It made a good watchpoint I guess. And my GOD has climbing stairs never felt so difficult._

 _I made my way to the door that lead to their quarters. I knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer._

 _Havoc opened the door._

 _I gave a small wave and he just stared at me._

" _Wel,l who the fuck is is Havo-." Another ForCon Marien rounded the corner to drop whatever he had in his hand._

 _They all stared at me. I felt really uncomfortable so I just walked past Havoc with and excuse me and leaned against the wall in the center of the room. This was a bad idea because now all eyes were on my._

" _uh...Hey?" I, again, gave a small wave._

 _Out of the blue Schiller gave me a huge bear hug._

" _HOW THE FUCK DID YOU SURVIVE!?" He half laughed half screamed._

 _I just began stuttering my words until Estin just came up and gave me handshake._

" _Welcome back to the land of the living new blood." He said with a smile on his face while he fixed his cap. "Oh… also you smell like shit." A small laugh was had in the room by all fireteams._

" _Well… If… You, uhh want to know how I survived then… Well…. It's not a long story but you'll need to understand all the details." I said._

" _Reeve's you were gone for 5 hours how could this not be a long story." Schiller asked._

" _Anyway…" I gave a small sigh. "Here we go…"_

 **And that's Chapter 6. That's probably the longest chapter I've ever done so far. Hopefully you guys enjoy reading it just as much as I love writing it.**

 **Anyway stay tuned for the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Grunts, Jackals and Brutes oh my!

"AH PUMP ME UP"

" _AH PUMP ME UP"_

"DON'T LET ME DOWN"

" _DON'T LET ME DOWN"_

"AH PUMP IT UP"

" _AH PUMP IT UP"_

"ALL AROUND"

" _ALL AROUND"_

"AH 2 DAYS"

" _AH 2 DAYS"_

"96"

" _96"_

"AH 2 DAYS"

" _AH 2 DAYS"_

"96"

" _96"_

"AH 1, 2… 3, 4"

" _MARINE CORPS_

"1,2...3, 4"

" _MARINE CORPS"_

"AH ARMY NAVY WASSA NOT FOR ME"

" _MARINE CORPS"_

"AND AIR FORCE WAS A TO EASY"

" _MARINE CORPS"_

"WHAT I NEED IS A LITTLE BIT MORE"

" _MARINE CORPS"_

"I NEED A LIFE THAT IS HARDCORE"

" _MARINE CORPS"_

"PT DRILL AH ALL DAY LONG"

" _MARINE CORPS"_

"HAD ME WORKING FROM A DUSK TA' DAWN"

" _MARINE CORPS"_

"AH 1, 2… 3, 4"

" _MARINE CORPS"_

"TELL ME NOW WHAT YOU'RE WAITIN' FOR"

" _MARINE CORPS"_

We stopped in front of the base as we finished our night 10 mile run. It had been 10 weeks since the start of training. Since those 10 weeks out of the 83 passed the first day, only 27 remained, but tomorrow would cut that number down even shorter. Because tomorrow was an infamous milestone in training called "the longest day".

When I was revamping the training program this was one of the few things I left in. This was a day that would truly test their metal. Of course it was only a milestone and would only hail in comparison to "the death march" at the end of training.

"Alright 2 columns. Move it Marines!" The Marines were tired but not dead. Ten miles had become nothing to them by now.

"Too the 27 of you that have made it this far. Congratulations… Tomorrow you will be faced with one of your toughest challenges yet. I don't expect you all to pass, however, I expect a majority of you to pass." I said as I made a 'so-so' motion with my hand.

"Tomorrow we will be hiking down to the beaches at the base of the Aluke Mountains. From their the test will begin. All other information about the test is classified until I brief you fully on it tomorrow. Is that clear?" All the Marines let out a unanimous 'yes sir'.

"Alright, Senior Drill Instructor Comlose. Get these Marines clean then back to their barracks." Comlose did as I asked and lead the Marines back to the showers then barracks.

I retired to my quarters and checked my pocket watch.

" _You did good new blood. Not gonna be long until you outlast all of us."_

The watch was a gift from back in the day. I still remember the days when fireteam Phoenix was held with such high respect among other ForCon companies and even other forces. Our efforts on Acheron II, Thermopylae VI, and Dacion IV didn't go unnoticed.

The watch read 9:14PM or 2114 military time. I kept the Marines out longer than usual as it would handicap them for tomorrow.

I stripped down and lit a cigar in my swivel chair. Trying to have the R&D team build 500 year old zodiacs wasn't easy with the blueprints I could find, but they did it.

I don't know if it was the silence or the cigar but I just sat there thinking. Just thinking about… Everything I suppose. I mean what really did make me rejoin the UNSC?. At the time I thought it was my subconscious trying to get me back into the bloodbath, but if that was true I would of refused the offer to train and booked the next ride to the nearest planet side battle.

If my training program worked would I be turning these Marines into lonely and cold survivors like I was?

What the hell did I even have to go back to when this was all over, if we won and I survived. No planet, as it was glassed long ago, which meant no home, no friends other than Oswald, no… Family.

It has been… What just over 20 years, 21 years? Since I… Last even saw my parents let alone really think about them since what happened.

Is that why I came back. I had nothing left for me in a quiet life?

My heart started racing faster and faster as my thoughts began to wonder.

Soon my mind was spiralling out of control while I kept the calm and cool facade up as I sat in my chair. Unflinching... I stopped flinching after the first month of my captivity with the Insurrectionists. Did they turn me into this?

My mind was warring against itself. Asking questions I didn't want to know the answer too or desperately needed to. My heartbeat was rising higher until I was sweating.

All the questions seemingly paralyzing me in place.

I pulled the cigar out of my mouth and stubbed the tip onto my collarbone region. I let the pain and the burn soothe the thoughts away.

The sizzling of my skin played like a dark and perverted lullaby.

I dropped the cigar on my ashtray and laid myself in bed. This time I hoped for a dreamless sleep.

" _So you're telling me you navigated through the hive in the tunnels, made your way through the city, then hijacked a wraith and destroyed the enemy's counter attack?!" Estin questioned, dumbfounded by the tale._

 _I blinked a few times and turned my head in a slightly nervous way._

" _Uh… I-I mean….Y-Yeah basically." I answered. The room was dead silent and all eyes were on me. In the corner of my eye from the desk I was sitting on I saw something come towards us from the hallway entrance._

" _Quite some story you had their Reeves. I knew putting you into ForCon wasn't a mistake, however, might I ask that you clean up. You still smell like death." The Captain said with a slight chuckle in his voice. The Captain was here, I didn't even notice him leaning against the wall in the hallway. I quickly got off the desk and stood at attention and gave a quick salute. "Yes sir!" I then marched off to what I guess you could call a shower._

 _In reality it was just water with some chemicals mixed into it that would eliminate the strong odor I had so it wouldn't alert the covies when I'm near. So they took the bucket and just dumped it on me. Once the water washed over me, leaving me dripping, I already felt rejuvenated._

 _I ran back to the barracks to catch up with my fireteam. It had been almost 2 hours now and we'd heard nothing of another counter attack or even moving back out, deeper into the city._

 _Once I entered the barracks the place was like a giant beehive filled with highly trained and lethal Marines. People were running around the place trying to find equipment, ammo, and other assorted things that would aid in not dying._

 _I ran up to Estin who was currently filling the mags up for his AR with a shotgun attachment where the normal hand rest was at the end of the rifle._

" _Estin sir, what's going on? Are we getting deployed again?"_

 _Estin turned his head to me and just gave me a quick nod. That was enough for me._

 _I was lucky already. I had all my assorted gear on and just needed my weapons and a helmet. I ran over to the weapon rack and looked for my BR with a 2-point sling. We had anticipated someone losing or breaking a weapon, that's a given. However we weren't really expecting to lose a helmet. Normally they have the grunts bring down extra everything, but we were in such a rush to drop through the meteor shower we didn't have time to take inventory._

 _So I made do with a small little headset that would use a holographic display on my right eye and had an ear-piece built into it. I'd be able to hear them talk over the internal comm link without anyone else but I wouldn't be able to talk to them in silence. Ya' win some ya' lose some I guess._

 _As we made our way UP the apartment and towards the rooftops I caught up to Havoc who was carrying his MG he only reserved for BIG missions apparently. "Yo, what's the objective I got here late… Again." That sounded worse than I thought it would. Havoc just turned towards me with his… Helmet and shook his head. I just rolled my eyes and mouthed the word 'oh that's just great'. We kept jogging up the stairs until we reached the roof._

 _We all lined up shoulder to shoulder and faced the Captain. There were about 29 of us including the Captain so this had to be something big like I thought earlier._

 _The Captain spoke with the internal comm link… For some reason. I mean it's only us up here._

" _Alright. I know I told all of you to gear up and get ready for a big and loud operation without telling you what it was but we're short on time." He still spoke with that EXTREMELY monotone voice. "Our objective is to move out into the city and find a suitable firebase close to the main FOB we have here. Once we mark the objective it's up to us to hold it until the rest of the main force arrives with the necessary supplies to arm the base." He took a pause and looked from one side of the line to the other. "Standard firebase construction, platforms will be are lifted down and the mechanical construction will begin. The Navy is having a bad time with their tech up high and so are we down here, we'll have to use flares instead of a normal radio beacon to mark the spot...Everyone good?" He looked at all of us and no one gave any response. "Let's go."_

 _He then turned around and ran towards the connector that joined the building we were on with the one across from us together._

 _From there we traversed a good 2 klicks out from the FOB until we ran out of rooftop and had to hit the streets below. On our way here we figured we found a pretty good spot just in the North East part of the city near some overpasses. Low apartments surrounded it, however, there was still plenty of room for vehicles, aircraft, and troops. The large area had a concrete floor, most likely an expansion of the buildings around that never got finished._

" _Phoenix I want you on the ground with my team, Granite I want you up top for sniper support. Reeves… Pop a flare." I grabbed a flare from my chest and ignited it. I threw the thing in the center of the large concrete square._

 _Behind us was an apartment and ahead of us were roads, more buildings, and a canal. We took up positions inside of the apartment and prepared for company. The covies had to of seen that flare, I mean it was still emitting a plume of red smoke in the air._

 _Granite had positioned themselves on the top floor, the Captain's fireteam, fireteam Onyx, was stationed on the 3rd floor of the building, we were at the bottom._

 _I did the calculations in my head, we could expect the main force to get here in about 15 to 20 minutes. 15 if they cut down from standard protocol and brought light-vehicles and infantry while moving the supplies, the time it would take them to get here if they had all their assets prepared beforehand would be 15 minutes, that's taking into account that they don't perfectly navigate the city to us. 20 minutes if they didn't prepare and have to get organized now then move towards the flare. That's leaving out if the do standard firebase construction protocols with the right assets, 2 Scorpions, 6 warthogs, 2 of which carry supplies, and a few dozen light infantry uni-._

 _ **SHRIII...BOOM**_

 _I quickly dive to my right, away from the plasma rocket that stuck to the wall on my left. The wall was completely burned away and disintegrated. The blast sent chunks of concrete flying up into the air and landing a few feet out onto the floor, the dust was blown onto my armor and blinded my field of view._

" _CONTACT! 2 O'CLOCK HIGH, WE GOT MORE FUCKERS COMING DOWN THE STREET AT 11 O'CLOCK" I'm not sure who said that and frankly I don't care. I push through the ringing in my ears and the pieces of molten concrete in armor and take aim at the assholes ahead._

 _The signature battle of rifle cracks and plasma bursts begins._

" _REEVES MOVE OVER TO 2ND FLOOR LEFT WINDOW. WE'RE TAKING HEAVY FIRE FROM INSIDE THE BUILDING AT 12 O'CLOCK NONE OF US HAVE A SHOT AND ARE PINNED DOWN. MOVE!" The Captain yelled from the 3rd floor. The only time I've ever seen him yell is in combat, and often it's just so we can hear him over gunfire. I busted ass from cover and towards the stairwell. I got to the 2nd floor door. I attempted to open it but it wouldn't budge. I shoulder charged it 3 time before it broke down. I staggered through the door on the final charge as I trucked through it. On the other side of the door was a giant gaping hole in the apartment, leaving me exposed. I stumbled into enemy fire and took a round to the shoulder. I dove to the left out of their line of sight and towards the window. The plasma round almost burnt right through my armor plating._

 _I stationed myself at the window and scanned all possible shooting positions in the building. Eventually I found my target on the ground floor, 2 grunts manning a plasma turret each. I took aim at the first grunt and shot it right in between the eyes with my BR. I guided my aim towards the second grunt, but before I could squeeze the trigger I heard quiet, but noticeable footsteps behind me. I dropped from my shooting stance and rolled away from the window._

 _The sound of electronics came to life and a loud hum filled the air. Suddenly the sound of a tight squeal almost came. I looked back to see an elite uncloaking and slicing the window in half diagonally. The thing looked back at me and growled, I grunted back. I shot the creature centre mass with a 3-round burst 4 times before it reached me and took another swing. The rounds seemed to have no effect against the thick armor covered in an energy shield. I ducked under another swing and slammed the butt of my rifle in it's rib's before it could react. It slouched slightly in pain from the strike and before I could aim my rifle it grabbed me by the shoulder and threw me passed the hole in the apartment. I landed with a crash and rolled back to my feet._

 _As I rolled the energy sword stabbed right where I once was, with the things mouth down low near mine, close enough to kiss. I elbowed the elite in the side of the face. This caused it to fall to it's side, releasing it's grip on the blade. I went for the blade but once I had it and picked it up, the elite kicked me which almost sent me in front of the hole again. I got into the best stance I could with a giant lazer sword in my hand and prepared for an attack._

 _With speed I've only seen once in my life, the elite charged and nearly grabbed me again. I countered with a back step and pulled the elite in front of the hole. I did something one would only find insane. I knew I couldn't match it in strength, speed or skill... So I cheated. I danced with the elite in front of that hole hoping I could even the odds by bringing in the probability of friendly fire. Plasma tore through any armor easily, I didn't have any on me… But the enemy did. I dodged around the elite as much as I could trying to get lucky, I even took a few swings with the blade._

 _The elite's fist hit me straight in the face after a failed stab. This sent the headset I was wearing flying off behind me. I got back into my stance and began the dance again._

 _I was now in the line of fire, I could see a jackal sniper lining up a shot._

 _I reacted quickly and spun the elite around._

 _The round sailed right through the elites skull, spraying purple blood all over my face._

 _The sudden weight of the corpse almost sent me to the ground, with it on top. The enemy had, for some goddamn reason decided it would be such a great idea to unleash hell onto my position. I couldn't move so I used the elites body as a shield._

" _REEVES WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON UP THERE... REEVES RESPOND… REEVES HAS GONE DARK. HAVOC, WESKO, HEAD TO THE 2ND FLOOR AND FIND HIM!" Estin was now on the local comm link trying to get to me._

 _I moved myself and the body over to the headset. I placed it on my head with one hand and turned on the mic._

" _DO NOT GO TO THE 2ND FLOOR. I REPEAT, DO NOT GO TO THE SECOND. I AM TAKING HEAVY FIRE FROM ALL SIDES, YOU WON'T MAKE IT THROUGH THE DOOR. I RECOMMEND YOU HAVE ONYX MOVE TO THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THEIR FLOOR AND TAKE OUT THE MG'S AT 10 O'CLOCK!" I took a brief pause to get a better hold on the body. I took a quick peek at targets at 10 O'clock._

" _PRIORITIZE TARGETS ON THE 4TH FLOOR BALCONY, RIGHT SIDE ROOFTOP, AND BOTTOM FLOOR LOBBY. I WILL ASSIST ONCE THESE ASSHATS ARE SLOTTED!"_

 _My voice couldn't get any louder, and this body couldn't last much longer either. I didn't get a response from them but I knew that they were already moving. I just had to hold out a little longer. Suddenly the elites arm got blown off splattering blood over the wall._

 _Not a second later another plasma rocket stuck to the back of the damn creature. I planted the elites back onto the ground and threw myself with a last ditch effort… Back._

 _The blast of the rocket completed with the strength of another one of my dives sent me flying through the door frame and into the railing on the stairwell._

" _Arugh… I think I broke something?" I tried to stand up only to fight through agonizing pain in my… Something._

" _Yup… Something's broker." I assured myself._

" _Job's done Reeves. Whatever your gonna do do it quick!" The Captain ordered._

 _I ran back into the room and stationed myself at the half cut window. I took aim at a cluster of fusion coils I saw while I was peeking behind the elite and switched to semi._

 _Breath in._

 _1… 2_

 _*BANG*_

 _3…_

 _The fusion coil's became unstable and erupted into a fiery rage, mangling and ripping apart any alien fuckheads unlucky enough to be standing next to it. The blast was sto strong part of the apartment it had been seated next to crumpled and blocked off that route for the covies._

" _Fucking eh Reeves that was beautiful!" Havoc praised over comms._

" _Yeah… Thanks Havoc but we still have to deal the onslaught ahead of us. Any idea when fucking Zulu company is gonna arrive?"_

 _Another heavy plasma round plowed into the building._

" _I don't fucking know but it better be soon, I think we just lost Davis… SHIT WRAITH 12 o'CLOCK!"_

 _True to Havoc's word, there was indeed a wraith gunning it down the road in front of us._

 _Before I could react I saw the main gun angle itself into firing position._

 _And it was aimed right at me._

I checked off the list from the watchtower by the beaches near the Aluke Mountains. I skimmed over the cutting list one last time before going out to see the Marines

Alexios - fail

Mattson - fail

Roycwics - fail

Hydinzer - fail

Marco - fail

Asheval - fail

Stamos - fail

Kalber - fail

19 Marines… 19 Marines left after a march out here with 80 pound rucks on and a swim in the surf. The objective was simple swim out to a buoy 200 yards out in the surf and back, 3 times in 60 minutes. 8 Marines couldn't do that. Now I had to send them home.

I sighed and put on my patrol cap before leaving the confines of the watchtower. I walked down the sandy beaches and towards the Marines.

"Any Marine's name I don't call has passed the test. The Marines who didn't make it will put back on their rucks and proceed to hike all 5 miles it took to get here, back to the base. For those who passed-." I turned back and pointed towards the troop transport warthog and began speaking in an Australian accent. "- Will load right on up into this fine lookin' sheila right er' and we'll make our way back to base."

I listed off the fail names and loaded up onto the warthog. Other drill instructors would be supervising them to make sure they don't end up killing each other.

Silence choked out any sense of success and progress in the Marines. It's been like this since we last started cutting or losing people. Since the swimming pool incident, we'd lost about 8 to 11 more Marines during training. They all felt sorrow for those who didn't pass.

They always did...

 _True to Havoc's word, there was indeed a wraith gunning it down the road in front of us._

 _Before I could react I saw the main gun angle itself into firing position._

 _And it was aimed right at me…_

 _My mind began racing with ideas and desperate plans. Eventually I came up with one._

 _At this point the Wraith had been given ample time to aim and fire. So as the giant ball of heated death flew towards me I ran towards the stairwell. Now even though I may of only been on the "2nd story" of the building I was actually about 5 stories up. I jumped right as I reached the railing and curled up into a ball._

 _The force of the blast sent me sailing into the adjacent railing and knocked me back down the staircase._

 _Shit_

 _Shit_

 _Ow!_

 _Fuck!_

 _Shit!_

 _I hit the ground with a large thud. I looked up to see part of the building coming down… And that part so happened to be right on top of me._

" _Ah.. For fuck's sak-!"_

 _I was suddenly covered by debris and the world went dark. I wasn't knocked out I could still feel the concrete and dust hitting my face, so I knew that I could still get out of this. Frankly I don't even know how the fuck I'm alive right now but hey, why question it?_

 _I began trying to move my arms, only to see them trapped under rock and debris, it certainly wasn't broken, just stuck._

 _My headset was just coming out with static and nothing else, so I was basically having my ears raped for the duration of my stay in destination fucked._

 _And I laid like that for a good solid 30 minutes. Apparently air got in somehow._

 _The debris above me began to move slightly, exposing my eyes to the blinding light of the sun above._

" _Holy shit, I think we found him!"_

" _You mean his body Havoc"_

" _Nah Captain, I think I see him breathing"_

 _The muffled voices only multiplied with that last comment as more debris was removed from my sarcophagus. Eventually a hand came through the light and pulled me up to my feet._

" _Well shit Reeve's looks like you are one tough son of a bitch after all!" The Captain laughed as he patted me on the shoulder._

 _I looked around to see the rest of the Marines at the new firebase being built._

 _The mission was a success. However we lost most of Onyx team in the process, excluding the Captain. So now that the Captain was without a fireteam and I'd proven myself a pretty hard roach to squash, he saw it fit to transfer me to Onyx team. In total we lost 3 members of Onyx team and Private Weskos when the building came down._

 _Acceptable casualties in the eyes of command._

 _More fallen soldiers to add to the pile by our higher ups._

 _Dead friends and brothers for the rest of us..._

 **Surprise I'm not dead everyone. Schools been a bitch lately so I've done my best to keep the content coming so please forgive me. Other than that hopefully you enjoy the new chapter and please, please, please, leave a review. It always helps me find out if you enjoy what I make and how to make it better.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

War Is A Team Sport.

The final hour of their training finally came to an end. With a final holler, the Marines let out 3 months worth of pain in the form of complete joy that they had accomplished their goal.

They were sweaty.

They were covered in dirt and piss.

They were exhausted.

They were Force Recon Marines.

All 15 who had finally graduated just completed the last milestone in training. The death march. A 3 mile march in full combat gear after a night of being exposed to tear gas, as well as little sleep. They started off with a daytime raid in which they had to pick up designated wounded and dummies up 3 miles of hill while also being harassed by constant gassing. The CS gas had nearly stopped a few, but I taught them well. They kept pushing and refused to quit.

What they didn't know was that after their graduation ceremony, 4 other classes would also be attending. I had convinced them that they were the only ones participating in these programs to give them that extra push for success.

I stared at my dress uniform and walked up to the podium. The podium was facing all the graduates and my instructors from each class stood behind me.

"I'm not one for speeches, so frankly don't expect me to great." A few laughs from the graduates came out at the comment.

"You have all suffered immensely, you have all learned how to survive some of the worst conditions presentable, you have all become Force Recon Marines. From here on out you will be carrying some missions of the highest importance to the UNSC. You will become a guardian angel for some, and a hellbringer for others…" I looked up from the podium.

"Many will look up to you. I want all of you to know that I am proud of each and every one of you. You are all dismissed. Pack your bags and we'll be off to the ship."

Each Marine saluted and made an about face. They all marched off to their bunks, eager as ever. Completely unknowing of the hell coming…

 _I field stripped my DMR for what felt like the 100th time in the past 30 minutes. We've been sitting up in orbit for almost 2 hours now. Below us was Thermopylae VI, A mountainous planet with raging oceans._

 _The perfect mining colony. Thermopylae was a bit of an interesting problem for the Navy and Air Force. You see, because of the planet's status as a both literal and figurative gold mine for resources… Resources crucial to the construction of equipment, ships, weapons, etc, the Navy and Air Force didn't want to risk ANYTHING. No air support, bombardments, archer missile strikes, or heavy ordnance for ground forces._

 _The covenant however, couldn't give less of a shit with how they killed us. Hell, by blowing up mines and resource stockpiles was destroying part of our war effort._

 _So here we are up in a frigate, on standby for 2 hours for a drop with an ODST company. If there's one thing you should NEVER do to a Marine… It's deny him bloodshed._

 _Ever since I joined fireteam Onyx something has just felt off about me. I suppose the Captain has that effect on people. Since the time I joined the team 2 others have become apart of it too. A fresh Private named Cam and my buddy Havoc, who had actually been demoted to Lance Corporal. I was moved up to Corporal due to it. However, it's been 2 months since the attack on Acheron. In that time I've worked my way up to a Corporal, second in command of the Fireteam and the right hand man of the platoon second in command, Estin._

 _Suddenly the pod bay lights all flashed a bright red and the alarm was baliring. We all jolted up from our seats and looked up towards the lights._

 _*Crk* "6th Force Reconnaissance Company report to your pods. Drops are in T-minus 5 minutes!" *Crk*_

 _The PA ended and all of us stopped and looked at each other with a spark in our eyes. We all reassembled our field stripped rifles, grabbed anything that we already didn't have ready and rushed to the pods while our superiors were receiving their orders._

 _The Captain activated his comms and began speaking to the whole platoon._

" _2nd Platoon. Report to your pods and prepare for a hard drop. Objective is to locate a covenant compound and conduct a raid. From there we are to support any remaining Marine units on holding the front."_

 _The radio was filled with a synchronized 'Yes sir'._

 _Soon we had reached our pods and climbed inside waiting for the countdown to hit zero and the light to flash green. Onyx and Metal team were to raid the North end of the compound while Sword and Bravo team hit the Southern side. The rest of the Company had their own assignments. Currently however, my only concern was the drop timer._

 _5 seconds…_

 _4 seconds…_

 _3 seconds…_

 _2 seconds…_

 _1 second…_

 _0…_

 _The light flashed green and but before any of us could even attempt to hit the drop button a plasma torpedo rammed into the side of the pod bay causing some pods to be slightly crooked or completely knocked off into the vacuum of space._

 _As everyone got their bearings back inside their pods, Havoc came onto the entire Companies comms and in a very childish voice shouted._

" _Green means Go!"_

 _Before being launched down toward the planet below. Soon the entire Company had followed suit and was dropping into orbit. On the way down I could see other ForCon Companies dropping along with ODST's._

 _I could see that the new Private's heart rate had shot up passed everyone else's in the team. I decided to make a joke that only Havoc and maybe the Captain would understand._

" _You still with us young blood!?" I half questioned half laughed._

 _Havoc then came back onto comms. "Oh fuck you Reeves that's my line!"_

" _No fuck you!" I retorted_

 _The Captain's image showed up on our screens. "Both of you clear comms we have about 90 seconds to impact, and it won't be a 'good morning welcome'!... young blood how you holding in?"_

 _The Private then came on comms and sounded quite sick I will add._

" _G-G-Good Captain….B-B-But Reeves is an A-Asshole!"_

 _I chuckled to that. It's always good to give the rookie a good laugh before being dropped into the depths of hell without sunscreen. I quickly checked the time to impact and made the call out to my team._

" _30 SECONDS TO IMPACT!"_

 _I remember when I was making my first drops into combat. Looking down on the carnage below as you quickly descended towards it. I nicknamed pods 'hell's elevator', you saw everything on the way down. It would always scare the shit out of you on the first few rides down._

 _What always got people though were those last few 60 to 30 seconds. It felt like you were falling in slow motion and the destruction that lay ahead makes you both hoping for the seconds to go longer and dread the anticipation._

" _10 SECONDS!"_

 _Well… here we go._

 _The familiar crash of the pod caused ringing in my ears. Suddenly, the pods door blasted off its hinges. I bursted from my pods alongside my team, we quickly drew our weapons and dashed to the nearest piece of cover. That cover just so happened to be a Warthog flipped on its side outside of the Covie compound. As the rest of my team lifted their weapons to return fire. I had another idea._

" _Reeves! What the hell are you doing" The Captain shouted._

" _Adapting sir!" I yelled back._

 _I checked the Warthogs gun to see if it still had rounds left in it and once I had found about 700 rounds still left I grabbed the gun. I positioned myself so the gun was looking over the side of the hog as it was on its side and started blasting._

" _Captain! Get the surrounding units to start advancing… I've got ya' covered!" While the Captain may of been a higher rank than me he wasn't an idiot and understood a good plan when he heard one._

 _He moved quickly to gather the scattered units and start the advance on the compound._

' _Where the hell is Oxide and Metal team. They should of been at the south side by now!" I thought to myself._

 _The Captain had advanced closer to the compound than I expected. They were about 70 meters away from the main entrance. Good, just need to keep them covered and we'll be fin-._

 _*clickclickclickclickclick*_

 _Well shit…_

 _I hopped off the gun and made a break for the nearest piece of cover._

" _GUN'S EMPTY!" I screamed into comms. Without that gun they were gonna have a hell of a 70 meters to go. Hopefully Havoc would do his job and use his LMG to at least try and put down some suppressive fire._

" _Havoc! Now would be a very good FUCKING time to use that LMG of your's!"_

" _Yeah, Yeah, Yeah I'm on it!" He retorted._

 _I could hear the shots start ring out like a rapid drum beat, giving me the queue to push up towards the rest of them. I got into a low crouch and ran the best I could while keeping my head down._

 _I eventually caught up to them as they were about a good 50 meters away now._

" _Reeves I need you to double back and position yourself with your DMR up on that vantage point for support." He pointed to a ledge about 40 meters away._

' _This guy really wants me dead'_

 _I tapped Havoc on the shoulder, he nodded but kept his eyes fixated on his targets. "I'm making a break for that ledge over there. I'm gonna need a steady stream of cover fire, last thing I need is for my ass to have a hole in it!" He simply kept firing as a response._

' _Alright. No biggie, just 40 meters… And about a 10 meter climb, under heavy fire...I'm gonna fucking die.' With that thought in mind I began my sprint._

 _Every second of the run felt like an eternity and it seemed every round fired at me just barely missed me. I reached the bottom of the small vantage point, slung my rifle behind my hip and began my climb._

' _Almost there, just check your six to make sure a Jackal doesn't have a bead on you.'_

 _I craned my head over my shoulder and looked around for any hostile's that may have picked up on me. Specifically Jackals… Hate those feathered fuckers._

 _Luckily there weren't any Jackals. Unluckily, it was a fuel rod Grunt…_

' _For fucks sake!'_

 _The grunt fired it's cannon at me, it was off by a few inches. If I could just get a little higher and roll to the side…_

 _The round was 10 feet from hitting the side of the cliff face. I launched myself 3 feet higher and held on with my left hand as I let my body lay flat against the rock in the other direction. The explosion caused cracks to begin to form in the cliff face._

' _SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT!"_

 _I climbed higher only to see a large boulder had been knocked off its perch and was falling towards me._

' _FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!'_

 _I launched my self laterally right and the reached my hand up to the edge of the vantage point. I began pulling myself up. I rolled over the top and into a sniping position overlooking the compound. The iconic cracks of my rifle started ringing out through the small valley we were in._

 _Over comms I heard the Captain start to mobilize the nearby units under my sniper support. "Charlie team and what's left Whiskey squad on me. I want Juno team blowing through the damn wall on the East side! Reeves keep up the support and call out any targets you can't take out."_

" _Copy that. Be careful I spotted Brutes and Elites inside the compound from up here"_

 _For about a good 3 minutes as they cleared the compound I rang out shot after shot. Each one finding its mark and snuffing out the life of another alien bastard._

' _I've gotta displace soon, by now they've had to of triangulated my positi-!'_

" _WHOA!" I screamed in surprise._

 _I had been grabbed by the leg and was being dragged back towards… Something. I flipped over onto my back and was gifted with a the privilege of seeing a brutes astonishing face up close. The fangs sticking out of it's bottom teeth, the dirty fur covered in who knows what, the drewl dripping down it's chin, and of course that fucking smirk. As if it had just sealed it's prey's fate. Not today you fucking primate._

 _My rifle was being dragged along with a few inches above me, gotta love slings amirite. I grabbed it and unloaded what was left in the mag to what I assume you could call it's face. The ape just raised its arm and absorbed the round into it's FUCKING ARMS!_

 _It then let go of my leg, ripped the gun out of my hands and lifted me up by the chest piece. I was now looking into the eyes of a 9 foot monkey. "How the the fuck is that fair?!" The beast merely scoffed and chuckled. "What? You expect me to be some beauty to your beast? I'm flattered but… No thanks." I thing just scoffed again._

" _Human sarcasm… your kind truly do know how to delude yourselves from the disparity of the situation. No matter, the Gods shall see all of your kind burn among our Great Journey."_

 _I started chuckling uncontrollably at that. "Oh...Oh shit. You can speak english. I guess we found the missing link. Come on let me see that beautiful voice of yours before you ascend on your 'Great Journey'." I was hoping he would pull me in a little closer so I could jab my knife into his throat and then jam my grenade into the cracks of his armor but instead..._

" _AHHHHHH!... Ow…."_

 _He threw me into the rocks and placed a helmet on his head._

" _I'm going to enjoy this human. I believe these rocks will tender the meat on you. Either way, I'm going to enjoy myself."_

 _I tried to get up but my leg was stuck under a rock. It wasn't crushing it but I couldn't slip out. I drew my pistol from my leg and opened fire._

 _The first mag hit his chest, the armor was too thick, he simply kept walking._

 _The second mag I aimed for his dick, seemed like the best chance I had. After unloading all of that mag he ripped off his helmet and licked his teeth._

 _The final mag I aimed for his head, he simply raised his arm again and absorbed the bullets like the were nothing._

" _Seriously! What the fuck is your arm made of! How the fuck did you evolve so your arms could take bullets!" As I said this I saw a nearby Pelican lift off and head westward._

 _He stepped on my chest and began pressing down further and further._

" _Oh… Your lighter than I expected!" I wheezed out._

 _My eyes began to close as my breath became labored. Just as I started to fade away I heard the sound of a blade cutting flesh and a loud thud on the ground._

 _I coughed loudly under my helmet and started rolling around on the floor in pain. Everything was just large blur for a moment, something strong grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up. For a moment I thought it was the brute._

" _Are you okay" The unknown figure stated plainly._

" _Y… Yeah. Fuck he probably just bruised a rib eh?" I laughed out the last of my words._

" _Can you fight?" The still blurred out man asked._

 _I looked up from my hunched over state, the man now just coming into focus._

" _Affirmative… I gotta get back to Onyx team."_

 _The figure finally came back into focus. Revealing a tall, armor clad warrior outfitted with a BR and a Tactical Shotgun on his back. The visor was a dark orange encased by the Air Assault helmet. It was a Spartan._

" _Negative. Onyx teams objective of taking the compound has been halted. They're being tasked with holding the front 6 miles West of this location. It appears your comms went dead during your fight with the Brute and due to a lack of time your team was forced to air lift without you." The Spartan explained bluntly._

" _So what? I'm heading with you?" I questioned. First my team leaves me behind, I have a few cracked ribs, and now I have to haul ass 6 miles west. Bad time for PT._

" _Negative. I've got my own objective, your to head West and RV with your team at the nearest FOB." Seriously this guy is a fucking machine._

 _I nodded and grabbed my DMR that was few feet away from me. I spiked a rappel line into the side of the cliff and made my way down the side. I ran some diagnostics on my helmet once I hit the bottom and sure as shit the built in radio was busted. Fucking knock offs._

 _I looked around the desolate wasteland around me and noticed that the compound was now a smoldering crater. Looks like they decided to just drop the UNSC's fist on the damn place. I scavenged for anything from medical supplies too spare magazines, maybe a handful of grenades. Luck was in my favor and I found 3 grenades and a Shotgun with at least 25 shells in reserve. Poor bastard was only able to fire off 2 rounds before taking one in the eyes. He was still there on the ground lifeless with a patch of dried blood around him._

 _After my little dishonor to the dead I moved Westward hoping that I wouldn't get picked off by some random Jackal Sniper. I even stumbled upon a lone grunt or 2 and took out my frustration on the little shitheads. However, what I wasn't expecting to find was an entire squad of Elite spec ops. I nearly walked into them as well had they not uncloaked so soon, thankfully I quickly hid behind a nearby rock. If these guys were behind the front then that could mean shit for the Marines. I knew that there was no getting around these guys so I had to make this quick. Especially since there were 5 of them._

 _This wasn't my first time with these guys so I knew how their tech worked and how it reacted. Their cloaks are directly linked to their energy shields, if I pop those then they can't cloak away. I readied a grenade and lobbed right in the middle of all of them. Spec Ops are usually equipped with normal plasma rifles and an energy sword, so keeping my distance was key._

 _I popped out of the rock I was hiding behind and aimed for the nearest elites head. I domed the first one and shot the second in the throat. The 3rd one quickly got back to its feet and aimed towards me, I took me 3 shots to put that one down and the final 2 rushed me with their swords. I pulled out my Shotgun and blasted the nearest one onto it's back. The final one got in so close that I had to dive out of the way to dodge it._

 _As I rolled to my feet and pumped my weapon I aimed for center mass and put one into its chest. The blast didn't kill it, just put it on it's ass and maybe hurt it's pride a bit who knows. With the other Elite quickly getting up and this time hanging back to let it's shields recharge and re cloak. The other saw this and charged me again, this time ducking under a blast and taking another swipe._

 _I knew that the moment they both cloaked I was done for, but one of them was already gone and the other was almost recharged. I was out of range and re engaging one of them would give the other time to flank me. I'm not dumb, they were too spread out to lob another grenade so naturally I fell back into the dense of the rocks and made my way towards a muddy patch I saw earlier. They had dropped their weapons before I ran and I didn't see them picking them back up, that would make this easier._

 _I found a patch of mud about the size of a baseball diamond. Good, just what I needed. I stood in the middle of the patch and prepped my shotgun. The thing about cloaks is that things like footsteps still appear as it only hides the user. The ground was to hard back there for me to notice anything but mud… That was different story. Hopefully, they wouldn't be thinking and would be acting reckless since I slotted their buddies._

 _The forest had gone quiet. I couldn't hear anything except the sound of my breath._

 _*SPLAT*_

 _I quickly turned around and levelled my rifle to see a piece of mud had been disturbed. No footprints._

 _I started scanning all around me hoping to find anything. Luck was on my side that day. I saw the tracks of the Elites slowly closing in around me for my left and behind me. My DMR would only agitate them and would make this plan useless, I had to wait until they were close._

 _With each footstep I acted like I didn't notice behind my Gungnir helmet. They had gotten about 15 meters away from me and I could see they were picking up the pace. They had closed in too about 10 meters just within the killzone. I needed them close though. Just a bit more._

 _8 meters..._

 _6 meters..._

 _4 meters…_

 _One of them quickly broke towards me. I blasted him again breaking his shields and knocking him on his ass. I quickly ducked and imbeded my butt stock into the other things gut. I then brought it up in an uppercut fashion, nailing it in the head and causing it to crane backwards._

 _I quickly shoved the barrel under its mandibles and fired. I quickly spun and took a knee, levelling my shotgun and unloading the last of my shells into it. Both were dead._

 _A dark mix of purple and brown swirled underneath their bodies. The solution was actually quite artistic some would say. The spirals creating a sort of hypnotic spin to them. Fuck! What am I some sort of nutcase. Jesus! I gotta get to the front._

 _I jogged back towards the front and once I had reached it, things weren't looking good. The FOB was positioned West, making our Left and Right flank South and North in that order. The Southern flank was about to be bombed by friendly artillery to deny the enemy further access and the North was holding onto a few squads and a single hog. I rushed up towards the Command Centre hoping to find my team. Instead I found a very angry Colonel._

" _Corporal Reeves, ready to assist sir!" I shouted with a salute as I stood next to the holographic display of the battle. He failed to look up. "Yeah… Who the hell are you exactly, and for god's sake where's your squad?" He inquired "I've got a deteriorating lines. A hotshot Corporal's the least of my problems now." He finished._

 _So this was the famed Colonel Bishop huh?_

" _Sir I was separated from my team back at the recently bombed compound. The compound designated Hotel-Bravo to be exact Sir. The one delegated to Onyx Team… I'm Force Recon." I cut off my statement with that. Hoping it would at least make him give me some direction._

 _His head shot up at breakneck speeds. A lifted eyebrow as well. "YOU'RE with Jacob!"_

 _That would be the name of our Captain. We always referred to him as 'The Captain' we rarely actually used his last name._

 _The Colonel eyeballed me and did indeed see the ever so infamous Gungnir helmet and slightly altered BDU. "Shit son, you are ForCon. What was your name again?" He questioned._

" _Reeves' Sir."_

 _He smirked and chuckled slightly. "Your that fucker who survived that hive on his own back on Acheron aren't ya?"_

" _Yes sir." I responded plainly._

 _He chuckled again and started tapping in commands on the holographic battle display before showing up on Onyx Team. "Jacob picks his men well, I'll give him that. I sent Onyx over to the Southern flank to try and get a foothold ever since we lost it… Not gonna lie it was suicide but they've beat the odds before and they can do it again." Sadly, there's so much damn chatter that I can't get a stable connection to him. You'll have to re introduce yourself in person." I can't get you anything big, I'm spread pretty thin…" He took a pause before tapping in a few commands. "I can however…" He pulled out something from under the table. "Give you this."_

 _The item was a small pistol shaped device with a built in laser designator. He opened his mouth to speak again._

" _It's a target locator, you've only got 2 shots though. Basically, you look at something, paint it red, and the Navy makes it, and everything within a 30 meter radius disappear. Like a goddamn magic show." He said as he went back to his devices._

 _I inspected the weapon for a few seconds before attaching it to my belt._

 _Suddenly a blast hit the Command Centre. A nearby Marine suddenly turned around from his station towards the Colonel. "A column of Wraiths just showed up and their making a B-line for our location."_

 _The Colonel looked towards him and began barking back orders. "Have the 8th armored divert to our location!"_

 _I made my way towards the door before quickly turning my head back._

" _Colonel!" I shouted._

 _He looked back with mild curiosity._

" _Keep an eye on your 6, on my way here I ran into a cloaked Spec Ops team. Probably more nearby!"_

 _He nodded with appreciation before I left the building._

 _Split up again and a long ways away from them. Assuming their not all dead, this might be a fun defense we have._


	9. Chapter 9 Trial By Superheated Plasma

Chapter 9

A Trial By Superheated Plasma.

The small pidder-patter of rain hitting soil could be heard sporadically throughout the lush green forest. The wind was whispering through and in between the towering trees. Most men would feel alone and at peace in these woods. The covenant however, knew only fear.

The peaceful sounds that once resided within the forest were soon filled thunderous gunshots that would ring for miles. The faint whispers of the wind we're now voided with bellowing of strange creatures. Soft raindrops had been stomped out by the calculated sprints of soldiers.

This forest had become our playground.

The sounds came to a violent stop as the final body hit the ground. An elite minor who had been leading a patrol of 10 grunts and 2 jackals. 8 silhouettes creeped out from the background to inspect the bodies.

"That's the 3rd patrol in the last 2 minutes… We must be getting close sir." The voice in question was that of a young hispanic man. A forest of black hair covered his head as he removed his helmet. "Besides, we're running short on time. Major wants up back at camp in less than 15 mikes."

I looked up from the corpse towards my men. "Duly note Martinez. I think we've spent enough time clearing our exit. Lights on boys we're hitting that battery." The men all nodded their heads in unison before leveling their rifles. We faded back into the forest and hiked West.

Our target had been assigned by Major Grant as a Covenant artillery battery 4 clicks West of a friendly firebase that had recently been established. The plan was to originally deploy the firebase and orchestrate a series of raids on Covenant high-value structures with cooperating JSOC units. That battery had fucked the whole thing up.

So naturally, with such a dangerous asset for our enemy in an unknown location… Forecon was tasked to find it, disable it, and wait for reinforcements to garrison the position.

It was our first assignment with the new batch I had trained up only a week prior. They were sharp but untested. To say this was a trial by fire was an understatement.

"Sir. 4 contacts 10 O'Clock high, right on top of that cliff face. Lookouts it seems, we're getting hot now." A Sergeant by the name of Matthews made a call-out along the local comm-link. Our helmets had seen a massive overhaul since my last deployment. The Gungnir helmets now had FLIR imaging and some more advanced sensing technology. No more unsuspected close-encounters like on Thermopylae.

"Roger. Martinez, Jones, and Sierra pick a bird and shoot em' down. Everyone else on me. Once those lookouts are down you know the deal. Direct action, get into the battery neutralize all hostiles while they cover us." A series of nods had flew my way. They'd trained for this under worse conditions than what we were in now.

The battery itself was nothing but a small sudo-trench dug into the ground with 4 small Covenant guns lining the outer perimeter. Didn't have much but 3 squads of 8 guarding it.

3 shots rang out. My team moved around the cliff face into a flanking maneuver. 2 of my guys laid down effective fire while the rest of my men slammed into cover a few meters from the battery. Martinez, Jones, and Sierra had taken the, now dead, lookouts position and began laying down cover fire on the battery. An all out firefight had broken out now. Plasma was thrown towards us as lead fired back.

We picked off targets as the 2 guys covering us moved up. We continued leapfrogging each other as we pushed further into the battery.

"MATTHEWS I NEED CHARGES ON THE 2 GUNS BEHIND US NOW! WE'LL COVER YOU!" We had gained some distance but a small stalemate had occurred. Neither side could push. Our marksman were out of range to assist and were swapping positions for a better view. On the other hand, the shock had faded away and those goddamn split-jaws were moutning a hefty fucking defense.

"SIR WE'RE IN EFFECTIVE RANGE OF THE EXPLOSIVES! WE'LL BE BLOWN TO BITS!" He replied over comms. The gunfire was beginning to become deafening.

I popped back into cover and loaded a new mag into my BR55. "I know… Just do it. Everyone get ready to fall back to the cliff face. I need marksman to lay down some suppressive fire as we retreat." I stated calmly.

Naturally a few of my men looked confused. 'We'd gained so much ground' they thought. Didn't matter. We were outgunned and outmanned. Matthews gave me a thumbs up, informing me the charges were set. "Fall back! Let's go, get to the cliff face." As we fell back, our marksman layed down a steady stream of cover fire with they're assorted DMR's and battle rifles. The Elites were quick to capitalize our retreat and moved their men towards the guns we'd captured.

"Lieutenant? May I ask what was the point of this strategy?" Martinez came over comms to inquire. I looked to Matthews, gesturing for the trigger. He handed it over promptly. I looked back to Martinez, plasma fire streaming towards us as we hid behind a few overturned trees.

"Killing 2 birds with 1 stone." I grinned under my helmet as I hit the trigger. The ensuing explosion engulfed almost all of the Covenant opposition, save a few grunts that hadn't gotten within the blast radius of the guns. The plasma ammunition had also been caught in the blast, creating a raging purple explosion.

We all stood up from cover and walked into the battery once again, picking off wounded one-by-one. Martinez even got real personal with a Jackal. Used his blade to take off a tooth.

"I need comms established in less than 2 mikes. Get me a channel back to Grant." I ordered.

"Everyone else get into defensive positions our entry wasn't exactly subtle. I don't need to tell you where to set yourselves up you've got that figured out already."

As all of my men scuttled to their respective positions Jones unstrapped his radio gear from his back and began opening a secure line back to the Major. I found on the other hand began looking for something flat.

I made my way to a rock that had been overturned in the explosion and now rested in the center of what was once the battery. I laid my map out across it. As good as all our digital shit was sometimes a good old piece of paper did the job just fine. I pulled a thick pen out of my rig and began marking positions. I naturally began talking to myself.

"1 battery with 4 guns… No permanent equipment so they set it up quick. Usually that would mean that a staging area would be within 4-5 miles of the battery." I used a small field ruler to mark out a radius around the battery of 4 to 5 miles. Once I had drawn up the circle I looked closely at the land within it. This is where physical and digital came together. The Covies were a bunch of arrogant bastards and would completely clear and area out for base construction. My map only entailed the land as it should be, so using the digital layout that projected the geography in realtime I could cross-reference a possible area with the digital display and find areas that had been cleared out.

Covie tech was good to hide the actual base but not the surrounding area.

I looked and looked.

For what felt like an hour I checked back and forth between my map and the digital display. Nothing.

"It's not like them to be so subtle like this?"

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned my head over it and saw Jones standing there.

"Private First Class Jones I told you to get a line established what are you doing here!?" I don't usually yell but my whole map situation had me already tense.

"Well sir, It's the Major… He wants to speak with you." he said meekly. Jones was on the younger side, maybe 20-21? If I remember correctly. He also was a tech genius of some kind. Graduated at some hot-shit school for nerds then grew a pair and joined the Marines.

I let out a sigh. "Thank you Jones. If you could check the GPS here real quick. I need you to look for any unnatural clearing within this 4 to 5 mile radius I've drawn around our position." I patted him on the shoulder and walked to the radio.

I picked up the speaking piece leaned against a destroyed artillery gun and spoke.

"Yello…"

There was a moment of silence. I checked the damned mic to see if it was on.

"About damn time I heard from you Lieutenant. I sent you out there 15 minutes ago, don't tell me age has slowed you down." His voice wasn't rough but old and with a southern drawl.

"Right back at you old timer. The targets been destroyed but I'm having trouble locating a possible staging area. We sure the GPS' are updated correctly." Once again I was met with silence.

"Look… Reeves don't bother, we have verifiable intelligence that the staging point isn't on ground level but is located in the Mountains East of here." I cocked my head in intrigue unless my men could see up to 10 miles away then that intel was wrong. We were the only Recon unit out here.

I took off my helmet and pinched my nose.

"Sir… May I ask just where this "verifiable intelligence came from?" I responded in a mock tone.

Without missing a beat he replied.

"ONI"

….

….

"Oh… That makes more sense." Goddamn spooks. Every Time I've had to work with them it's nothing but a fight against them and the enemy. "What's our orders?"

"Look, I know you and ONI have a rough history but you're the only one within 200 miles that has the experience to run an OP at this level. I mean why do you think they called JSOC in the first place?" I nodded in agreement but still held a tinge of doubt.

"You'll RV with the rest of the JSOC units. ODST's, ONI Ground Ops, and some Special Warfare Command guys from the Army. Whatever this is it's big. ONI specifically selected you for it too. While this may be ONI's OP they've given you complete tactical command over all the JSOC units." He paused before transmitting a 3D display of the enemy position on my TACPAD.

"You'll meet up just 3 clicks West of the objective. Then clear out the outer compounds along the mountain before making your way inside. Once you're in there, you're too clear it out and allow ONI Ground Operatives to retrieve something. The base is heavily fortified with at least a battalion inside and multiple platoons outside. Not to mention enough firepower to level a skyscraper. Some of the details about certain locations may be off it's either the snow or something else throwing our tech through a loop."

The base was dug into the mountain itself it seemed. He wasn't kidding about the security though. Whatever they had in there they wanted to keep… Badly!

I studied the layout closely before sending some requests along the TACPAD.

"Grant. You're asking a lot on short notice… So I'm gonna need some favors on short notice for this to work. 3 modified Jackhammer rocket launchers with heat seeking." I paused as I pulled up more things.

"Along with 4 pairs of tactical binoculars with enhanced thermal imaging, 3 fusion coils, and once snow capable warthog that can transport all of this." I ordered rather than asked.

"Done… You've got 3 hours to get to the RV." The call ended.

I turned around to all of my teammates who were walking in. I could spare them the details on the hike there. They only needed to know one thing.

"We're working with ONI." The groans ensued.

 **Right, right, right I'm not dead. Just to many things to do so little will to live and all. I will be continuing this story but for further reference as I tried to set this chapter in the present rather than continue where I left off in the flashbacks. Got tired of writing in italics I suppose.**

 **Anyway I'm at a crossroads so I need your help.**

 **I've essentially created 2 cliffhangers to extend one.**

 **1 would finish the arc I left young Reeves on as he regroups with his team on Thermopylae and we discover where his distaste of ONI comes from.**

 **The other would continue where this chapter left off and would find Reeves and his new team join forces with other Special Operation Forces and exploring the entrails of this base I've built up.**

 **LEAVE A REVIEW TELLING ME WHICH YOU WANT**

 **Also feel free to leave me a review giving me criticism or just telling me if you like the story I want to know if you guys enjoy this.**

 **Anyways… I'll be back soon and hopefully I can post another chapter before the summer ends.**

 **(and yes this one is kinda short)**


	10. Chapter 10 Tier 1

**Right quick authors note. Yes I changed the title from A Man Named Reeves to Halo: Force Recon. After awhile I realized that the title wasn't very eye-catching so I changed it. Hopefully it doesn't get lost in all the other Halo fic's with a similar title.**

Chapter 10

Tier 1

Night had fallen upon the sprawling forest.

The wind blew and snow began resting itself upon the forest canopy.

 _CLICK_

Something was moving in the darkness.

CLICK CLICK CLICK

A screen sprang to life as the small laptop monitor lit up.

"We're up… Satellite surveillance… Online…." Jones began typing away as he began running final checks for the mission. Listing off each asset as if he were reading the ingredients on the back of a cereal box.

"Aerial drone surveillance… Online"

"Orbital scanner… Online"

"Cross-com… Online"

"Geographical layo-"

Jones was cut short in his sentence by yours truly.

"Can it Jones. Don't need the whole forest coming out to play. Martinez setup that IR beacon for the rest of the Tier 1 units to track. The Special Warfare operators should be bringing everything I requested in that hog." I looked around. Without the VISR in our helmets providing night vision you wouldn't be able to see a single one of us.

The RV was a seemingly random location. Just about a 20x10 foot clearing in the middle of the woods at the base of the Mountain. They'll figure it out later.

"Everyone go dark. Everything but your VISR, this shit can go sideways real quick."

So we waited…

Completely still for 10 minutes.

Not a peep and no sudden movements.

After the 10 minutes had passed we caught glimpse of 2 ODST teams of about 9 each.

They popped in on our HUD's from their IFF tags. The readout text popped in and read. 'Flint 01' as well as 'Steel 02'. I suppressed a chuckle, very cute. We identified Flint team and Steel team in out helmets.

Suddenly 4 more IFF responses popped up. It was the ONI Ground Ops. The only ID we got from them wasn't names but just words. The words, which I assume were codenames followed as Spectre, Wraith, Sigma, and Wolfe. Jesus these guys had an ego to stroke you could tell.

I told my guys over private comms to stay hidden. Time to have some fun.

We waited about 10 more seconds before we could hear the light hum of an engine pull up. The headlights were off. Looked like everyone was using VISR. 2 guys hopped out the front as another 10 walked alongside it. They wore modified Army BDU's with a full screen visor over their face. All 3 teams converged on the IR beacon. An Army operator crouched down with his Ma5k carbine in hand and picked it up. Examining it for a moment as everyone else looked at him, still dead quiet.

His head craned up as he scanned the area before looking at the rest of the guys in confusion.

"Well where the fuc-" He didn't get to finish that sentence as I had all my men step out into the open in a small perimeter surrounding all of them. Bit dramatic yes but it got its point across.

They all jumped at the extreme and sudden movement, a few almost leveled their weapons.

All of the team leaders stepped forward towards me. They weren't surprised.

A quiet, yet forceful 'fuck you' came in unison from all of them.

Leading Flint team was Master Sergeant Jaxyn 'Grinch' Tkilly. A young black skinned man. About 2 inches taller than me and pretty damn buff. How he got the name Grinch I have no clue.

Next to him was Staff Sergeant Lyn 'Mako' Fao. He was of Asian background and while he wasn't as tall as me, he certainly wasn't short... nearly my height. He was nicknamed Mako due to his quick movements in combat. Like a Shark.

As for the Spooks I couldn't tell ya. Their leader, Sigma, was almost exactly my height. They all wore modified ODST outfits. Looked to be Recon variants, but that was above my paygrade. Let's hope this one doesn't try and kill all of us.

I walked past all of them, picking up the IR beacon and deactivating it. I began marching towards the hog as I pulled the Army SL with me.

"You got everything?" I questioned.

He pulled an IR Bino out of the trunk and tossed it to me before speaking up. "Yup… 4 sets of infared binoculars, 3 modified Jackhammers with heat seeking…" He leaned against the vehicle and tapped it twice. "1 snow capable hog and 3 fusion coils. For whatever you'd fuggin' need that for." His voice wasn't beat up, nore was it high pitched. Strangely enough he sounded like the average joe. Which is much different from the Marines, all the yelling we do all the time leaves our throats about as rough as Satan's nutsack.

I glanced at the binos he tossed at me before tossing them back. "Good job Sergeant First Class. I'm gonna review with my men the scouting. Get everyone organized. Check gear and ammo, hopefully you packed extra in that thing." I walked off and began pulling my team in.

"Right, these guys are some of the best the UNSC has to offer. While you may be new to my unit you certainly aren't all green. Survive, adapt, overcome. Same shit I taught you in training." While my statement was plain, it was true. All 8 of my team members were some of the best in their class. I had assigned everyone a team systematically but these guys were handpicked to run with me. As narcissistic as that sounded.

Martinez was a Lance Corporal who had previously run with Scout Snipers as a spotter. He was now my Designated Marksman. Jones on the other hand was my PFC with a mind that could crack almost anything UNSC or Covenant.

Then there was Corporal Sierra, she was pretty young. White skinned, red haired, and a freckled face. Not to intimidating, but she didn't need to be. While Martinez handled the DMR she was our resident Marksman. Not much more to it, she aimed, shot, and killed. Sergeant Matthews however, was my demolitionist. Loyal, efficient, and knows more than 100 ways to blow shit up.

But… there were 3 more I had yet to properly introduce. First Sergeant Cooper was our CQC specialist. Armed with and SMG, M45 Tactical Shotgun and an assload of ways to 'open' a door. When things got personnel I could trust him. Didn't help the guy was a fucking tank too, he was taller than me and could probably bench a tree.

Lance Corporal Kerry on the other hand was a different story. While only a Lance Corporal he'd seen some shit. Nothing more than a rifleman, but he'd been involved in quite a few UNSC blunders and come out in one-piece. Experienced in Guerilla Warfare and hit 'n' run. I could trust him when we were in the great outdoors.

Finally, Private Deruld. Not exactly fresh. But not a veteran either. He was armed with an Ma5k and a few grenades. He couldn't of been older than 25. Not that any of these descriptions mattered. The only way you could tell who was who was with an IFF connected heads up display. We all looked the same.

Clad in woodland BDU's and light armor plating. The only defining part was our Gungnir helmets. Now that I had a head count it was time to get to work.

I brought everyone in from all teams.

"Alright here's the plan…" I inquired with a hushed tone. Before placing a small holographic outlet on the ground.

It shot to life before recreating the exact dimensions, textures, and landscape of the facility we were about to raid.

"Now I know some of you've been briefed already by the Major but here's the deal." I pointed to the facility.

"This facility houses something these guys want." I finished, pointing to the Ground Ops.

"So we need to help them get it, we'll be supported by satellite and aerial surveillance the whole way through. So nothing outside of the target building should surprise us once the snow dies down. However, like most of you have been notified, the snow is causing interference so expect some misplacement with where enemy positions are." I paused to zoom in on a full set of 6 turrets creating an outer perimeter from the compound.

"These 6 guns are gonna be a pain in the ass so our first priority is to neutralize them before beginning the assault. Lucky for us my man Jones can temporarily disable them for around 2-3 minutes. So we have that time to move up and either disable or destroy them because if we don't this missions being cut short." I then swiped over to a piece of covie equipment.

"Now this… This is the second problem. Almost all of the infantry platoons outside of the facility are equipped with FLIR/thermal imaging goggles. Usually this piece of equipment is for Jackals but with the snow blinding most of them from seeing more than 150 meters they needed it. So to stop from having to crawl through snow the entire way I brought along fusion coils. We'll place them near the insertion point and spread them out for maximum coverage." I paused again as I pulled a small diagram showing troops moving from the insertion point.

"Fusion coils create a huge fucking thermal reading. Like looking at the sun in night vision goggles, so it will mask our approach. Sadly this will probably put them on edge. Jones will stall the automated turrets, we move in, neutralize any threats and take care of the guns." I walked over to the front of the facility and gestured towards it.

"ONI Ground Ops and Special Warfare Operators will the breach into the building with probably more of us following soon considering troop size. ODST's and my guys will secure our exit and hold rear security. They WILL call for reinforcements. Once defensive positions are set up I'll have the hog that's loaded with equipment and ammo make its way to us. We've got 3 Jackhammers with heat seeking. They've got around 6 rockets each so use them wisely." I then shifted over to the bottom of the holographic mountain.

"Once ONI has it's space butt-plug we'll then retreat to the base of the mountain where 3 pelicans will be awaiting our extraction. Due note that because of ONI's wishes… Once the package is loaded and secured the pilots do have authority to take off with or without you." I took a breath clapped my hands together, leaned forward and sighed.

"Any questions" I held my breath.

One of the Army guys lifted his hands. I pointed at him to signal he's good to talk.

"Expected enemy troop size?"

Without missing a heartbeat I replied.

"1 battalion inside for reserve and 3 platoons guarding the outside." Murmurs and whispers arose from all of them.

"Jesus…"

"That's a whole new level of suicide right there."

"We're not fucking Spartans."

The comments were meaningless we had a job to do.

"Oh stow it, all of you. We've done this shit before a thousand times and we'll do it a thousand after. The only difference is that there's more shit to shoot at." I paused before charging the bolt on my BR55.

"You've all checked your gear and are good on ammo. We'll reach the insertion point uptop by 0600… Let's go." I turned around and held my arm over my head before swiping it down 90 degrees in front of me. "Move out."

After about a 2 hour march we reached the insertion point at 0610. I felt bad for the bastards that had to carry those fusion coils.

I gestured for everyone to rally on me.

"Jones get me to HIGHCOM." I waited about 5 seconds before my comms patched me through to Major Grant and some high-ranking Naval officer. Probably another ONI spook.

"Be advised, JSOC units have arrived at insertion point and are awaiting mission launch. How copy over?" The snow was beginning to flare up, my voice had raise slightly so they could hear me.

"Uh… Solid copy Onyx team. Irene. I say again, all units Irene!." This time it was broadcasted on all of our comms. Everyone in the JSOC team heard it.

"Read you loud and clear Overlord." I leveled my rifle before pointing to the guys with the fusion coils.

"Get those spread out and on my mark ignite the coil." They looked at me with confusion.

"Turn it on dammit." The 3 ODST's nodded and started moving them.

"Alright, the moment I give the signal you need to haul ass up that hill. We need to time activating the coils and temporarily disabling the guns perfectly so get ready" I looked at all of the Tier 1 units.

I didn't have to explain much more than that these guys are professionals, they'll know what to do once we start.

I got 4 links on my HUD signaling that the coils were set and the guns were ready to be jammed.

"Ready… Mark!" All of the Tier 1 units broke from the rock formation we'd been using as cover and sprinted up the hill.

The guns were only about 50 yards up and we could already see some of the covies becoming alert. It wasn't long before the gunfire arose.

"Martinez, Sierra, switch to thermals and start picking off targets!" I pointed to the 2 of them.

"Deruld, Cooper. Escort Matthews to the first 2 guns, the others will take care of them!" I was talking locally with my team as not to fill comms.

"Everyone else on me we're clearing the outer compound!" The Army operators began laying down effective fire as everyone else began moving in. I saw some ODST's blowing open a wall before we entered the small compound outside of the facility.

Once we were in the talking stopped almost immediately.

Kerry was following my as we started taking the left side. I kicked down small crate for cover and began scanning for targets. A small squad had gotten into defensive positions and began opening fire with plasma turrets.

Kerry tossed a frag over trying to at least flush them out of their defenses but to no avail. I was about to hop on comms before 3 shots rang out and the plasma turret fell silent. It was Martinez and Sierra.

I popped out of cover and fired a 3-round-burst at a jackal perched in a sniper's nest. 2 of them hit the thing in the chest before the 3rd sailed through its skull, splattering blood over the wall it was next to. Kerry pushed up to a closer piece of cover as I layed down some fire.

2 grunts began charging us with stickies in their hands. Kerry popped 1 and as it's grenade fell out it's hand and landed on the head of the other grunt. The thing began running in circles before being engulfed in it's own explosion.

Out of the smoke a single entity appeared. An Elite ultra ignited it's sword and started charging towards us. Kerry and I both opened up on the head, nearly cracking it's shield before it shoulder bashed the piece of cover we were behind, sending kerry flying. It backhanded me about 5 feet away.

It's shield's were still nearly down, I checked my ammo count and found only 2 shots left. No time to reload.

"KERRY 2 SHOTS! 2 SHOTS!" I screamed at him as quickly as possible. The Elite began closing the distance before 3 magnum rounds slammed into the back of it's head.

His shields popped after the 3rd and he snapped towards Kerry. I leveled my rifle and dumped my last 2 shots into the side of it's head. The Elite's head craned with the bullets flight path through its skull before falling over.

We got back up, and loaded new mags in before pushing further into the compound.

"This Master Sergeant Tkilly, Flint team. We've got a pair of hunters punching us in the face right now. We can't arm the explosives with them on us right now! Could use some support!" As if on queue the 2 guns I'd assigned Matthews and his escort went up in flames.

I checked my watch 1:45 left. "Matthews, Deruld, Cooper, I see your done already. I need you moving to Flint team to assist. Buy time for Matthews to arm the guns they were assigned. You've got 1:45 left HAUL IT!" I barked in comms before bringing my weapon up and forging deeper into the compound. We had work to do.

" _Matthews, Deruld, Cooper, I need you moving to Flint team to assist. Buy time for Matthews to arm the guns they were assigned. You've got 1:45 left HAUL IT!"_

We didn't respond. Just sent an 'acknowledged' message on the HUD.

Cooper pushed another slug into his M45 before gesturing to me and Deruld. "Alright you heard him let's move!"

We charged alongside the walls of the compound before reaching Flint team. They were frantically moving back and forth from cover as a pair of hunters, and 3 grunts with fuel rods opened up on them.

Cooper pointed to the Private. "Derald stay here and provide and pick of those grunts. Matthews you got a spare grenade?" I nodded before tossing him one. I turned back around and started working again.

Cooper left in a sprint towards Flint team leader. I could hear him over local comms.

"WHERE'S THE REST OF YOUR UNIT?!" He asked in shock.

"WE'RE IT!"

"WE'RE?" The team leader replied with confusion.

"I'VE GOT ONE OF MY GUYS TAKING OUT THOSE GRUNTS AND ANOTHER ON THE GUNS" A small pause followed between the two.

"THAT WAS OUR JOB"? The Master Sergeant was clearly not having a good day.

Cooper chuckled before replying in a playfully light tone. "YEAH… AND YOU SUCK AT IT!" The comms cut off there.

Back to the task at hand.

I stuck and M168 demolition charge to the base of the gun. I began interfacing with the controls and priming the charge as fast as I could.

2 more guns on the other side of the compound exploded.

" _4 guns down… 2 more to go. All units be advised 60 seconds until weapons are operational!"_ 2nd Lieutenant Reeves broadcasted on all our comms.

FUCK!

I finalized the authorization to my trigger. I turned the handle 90 degrees up, facing it vertically and switching the light from green to red. It displayed the small but powerful word of 'Armed'.

"First one's up moving to the second!" I sprinted towards the final gun. Deruld moved with me making sure to watch my back.

" _45 seconds left"_

I frantically planted the final charge at the base and began working. Fuck I may not have enough time to activate it remotely.

"Matthews we're clear down here how's it going?"

"I'M ALMOST DONE BUT I MAY NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO LINK IT TO A DETONATOR. GET CLEAR" they didn't need to ask questions. The words 'detonator' and 'get clear' told these guys it was serious. Even Deruld listened.

" _20 seconds"_

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK.

I finished interfacing with the primer and began finalizing the authorization to my trigger.

" _10 SECONDS EVERYONE OUTSIDE THE WALL FIND COVER"_

I grabbed the handle and began twisting it into the 'Armed' position. For some goddamn reason it was slower than usual.

COME ON

" _5…!"_

COME ON

" _4…!"_

ALMOST GOT IT

" _3…!'_

I hit the armed button…

" _2…!"_

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

" _1…!"_

"10 SECONDS EVERYONE OUTSIDE THE WALL FIND COVER"

Kerry and I were finishing up on the left side of the compound at this point. Jones was doing his best to actively stall the guns but no avail.

I wasn't getting a response from Matthews nor any of his teammates.

I assumed the worst and decided to warn anyone outside the wall that those guns were about to spin-up. The clock inside my helmet ticked down second by second.

Abruptly while I was nearing the end of my countdown a single voice popped into comms.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

The final 2 guns erupted violently from their mounted positions. Pieces of debris soared up and outwards.

Way for them to cut it close. I signalled to Kerry to hold his position before we moved forward.

"Matthews, way to cut it close man. I need you and the rest of the ODST's to flank outside the compound and regroup with the Special Warfare operators. How copy?"

.

.

.

.

"Matthews respond!?"

.

.

.

.

"MATTHEWS!?"

.

.

.

The long silence was broken when the comms sprang to life.

"Yeah… I'm-*cough* I'm here. We're enroute now... "

I sighed a breath of relief. Why he sounded beat up however, I'll find out later.

"Solid copy. We're mopping up with the ONI Operatives. We'll be there in 5, out."

Kerry and shouldered our rifles a proceeded to what appeared to be a courtyard. It was the last defensible position the Covenant had inside the compound which presented a rather daunting challenge for us.

It was extremely open with the only noticeable pieces of cover being a broken down banshee near the right hand side of it and a Spectre right in the middle. On the other end layed a series of catwalks varying in height from 8 feet off the courtyard to 20.

It was an ambush clear as day, and we both knew it.

"Operative Sigma, Me and Kerry are reaching what appears to be their last defense inside the compound. It's heavily fortified, we're about to walk into an ambush. Your guys are the closest to us. Requesting assistance." I took my finger off the side of my helmet from behind cover and awaited a reply.

"Negative Lieutenant. My men are already pushing towards the facilities entrance with the rest of the Tier 1 units. Just you 2 to mop up." Was the response I got.

Of-fucking course. We burn our asses trying to keep the mission going and ONI leaves our asses out to dry. I swear this mission was fucked from the word 'Go'.

"Affirmative Sigma." As much as i wanted to say fuck you, they'd probably just shoot me in the back later and say I went rogue.

I looked towards Kerry. He was listening to the conversation so nothing needed to be said. Just a nod.

"You still got those grenades?"

He nodded again.

"Good. We'll need em."

"Ready…" I looked towards Kerry.

We could already see some of the covies creeping out and into their defensive positions. We were fixing to get into a pretty good gun fight.

"Go!"

We broke from cover and sprinted towards the Banshee on our right. They had been caught off guard by the sudden approach and began scrambling out of their holes. Like rats.

We didn't slam against it but rather laid our weapons on top of it and began calling and hitting targets.

"3 GRUNTS. BALCONY. HIGH RIGHT"

"JACKAL. TOP CATWALK."

"2 ELITES GROUND FLOOR LEFT"

As each combatant scrambled out of the open trying to where they needed to go we picked them off. It thinned them out and allowed us to set the tempo for the firefight. However, good things don't last long.

A lucky grunt with a plasma launcher had made it to the middle catwalk and fired all 4 torpedos to the banshee.

They stuck like white on rice and began getting brighter.

"MOVE!" We crossed the courtyard and slid into cover behind the Spectre. With this sudden change in momentum the covies. Being the ignorant bastards they are began positioning majority of themselves on the catwalk to get the high ground.

Big mistake.

I popped 2 skirmishers rushing us. The first immediately dropped as the 3 rounds made contact with it's chest. The other was a little more persistent and got within face-stabbing range. The recoil from the first caused my aim to shift towards his shoulder rather than chest.

3 rounds 9.6mm rounds later and the bird was on the ground missing and arm.

As i saw the covies on the catwalk get settled in I called it.

"NOW KERRY!"

Kerry pulled 1 grenade off his belt backed up as I layed down fire and he tossed that fucker right up at the catwalk. The first one killed about 5 of them and rocked it back and forth. It was unstable.

"HIT EM' AGAIN"

He reached down one more time and pulled out his last grenade. Pulling the pin out with his teeth as his other hand was busy firing his rifle from the hip at some oncoming enemies. He tossed it high in the air straight towards the top catwalk.

It went off with a thunderous boom. Killing about 6 or 7 more enemies. The top catwalk then snapped violently off it's cables. The cables whipping in random directions. Like a line of dominos the top fell onto the one below it. Crushing the opponents upon it. Then the next fell, and the next. Until all that was left was a pile of ruble.

With the remaining combatants on the ground and at a disadvantage of being out in the open with now cover the pendulum of the fight swing in our favor once again.

"KERRY COVER ME FOR ABOUT 7 SECONDS WILL YA!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"ON IT BOSS!"

I started climbing the Spectre into the gunner seat. As advanced as these aliens were there were just some fundamentals about guns.

The trigger makes the gun go bang.

I twisted the gun towards the enemy and opened up.

Unleashing a devastating onslaught of plasma.

Round after round.

Until the last fucker who was there was singed to the core.

I climbed out of the gunner seat and slid down the side of the Spectre

"Sigma this is Onyx Actual. Compounds clear and we're moving to your position. What's the status on the entrance." radio silence fell for about 3 seconds before I got a response.

"Onyx Actual this is Sigma. We're mopping up here at the entrance we'll be clearing the facility in less than 2 mikes. I've already sent one of your guys to grab the supply hog. He should be up here with your man Jones in 1 mike. Get your ass here LT the men ne- WOLFE ON YOUR RIGHT-" The feed cut out after that.

"Right… Kerry let's move we've got less than 2 minutes to get there.

By the time we'd jogged an additional 300 meters up the mountain we'd reached the entrance. It was more of a fortified cave rather than anything else. You could probably squeeze and elephant in there. The whole was supported by what appeared to be beams on the outside and a very large one in the middle. The keystone to this thing I guess.

I walked up to the ODST's and what was left of my men. First Sergeant Cooper had them setting up defenses. Everyone was here except Deruld and Jones.

"I assume Deruld volunteered to grab the hog?" I inquired, patting him on the shoulder.

"Yes sir. Seemed pretty adamant about it to. Can't say why." I could see the confusion on his face.

"Doesn't matter why First Sergeant. All that matters is how quick he can get back here."

I put my finger to the side of my helmet and triggered the voice comms.

"Deruld. ETA?"

His response was immediate.

"Already here sir."

I looked up and saw the hog climb to our position. Kicking up snow in its wake.

I pulled up the Task Force comms and began speaking to everyone as I paced around the area. My weapon slung to my hip with my 1-point sling.

"Alright everyone listen up. We got past the easy part. Plan will continue as we made it. We've got the outside locked down while the Operators take care of the inside. Mission time is sitting at…" I looked at the watch on my TACPAD.

"56:37. So let's hurry this up before the whole damn Covenant battlenet knows we're here. Besides it's nearly lunch." I was about to continue before I got an interruption on my feed. It was Overlord.

It was sent only to me.

"Mission parameters have changed. The Navy is currently debating on whether to cut everything loose and destroy the package from orbit. You currently have 1 hour and 30 minutes until we can't stall them any longer and the AO turns into a target area for the Navy. Good luck" I could only sigh.

'This...This is why I hate ONI Ops SO DAMN MUCH!'

I cleared my thought before beginning where I left of.

"Alright mission update: The Navy just said fuck and have decided to cut this asset loose. We've got 1 hour and 30 minutes to extract the package before this place gets turned to slag." I paused before facing the Operators who were stacking up on the entrance and holding a thumbs up.

"Entry team awaiting greenlight." It was the Sergeant First Class from earlier today on comms.

"Solid copy entry team… Fuck some shit up." So like that, they moved inside.

I walked climbed up to a vantage point so I could see our defenses better. I made a private link to only my men and the ODST's, don't want to distract the guys inside.

"Alright, The ODST's will be making up the bulk of the defenses… Seeing as there is 18 of you guys. We've got 3 jackhammers for each demolitionist from each squad. Onyx, Steel, and Flint. You've got 6 rockets for each jackhammer so think wisely." I paused before setting a waypoint for each team to follow.

"Effectively what we've done is dig ourselves in like ticks so it's gonna be a tight defense. Flint you take the left hand side of the entrance while Steel takes right. We've got plenty of cover so use it. My men will be moving back and forth from place to place as a support unit." I then pointed back to the hog.

"That hogs got more ammo and supplies in it than an Army platoon. So use it. All of it."

Another message popped up on my HUD… It was interesting to say the least.

"Right I've got friendlies on standby I'm patching them through top the rest of you. He's our new buddy, a gift from Overlord so make sure to say high." I finished sarcastically.

A southern female voice popped through comms to the rest of the guys.

"Task Force Sigma this Outlaw 1-1 and 1-2. We'll be providing close air-support for you lovely people down there today. Enjoy the front row seats. We'll be on station in less than 1 mike out." Huh? Didn't realize our group name was Task Force Sigma. Cool I guess?

"This is Onyx actual to Outlaw 1-1. Glad you could be here on this lovely day in the mountain. Out." I finished my little chat before returning to the men.

"Right, so looks like snow's calmed down allowing for some CAS. Let's work with it boys." The more I work with ONI the more I genuinely just feel the need to put a gun in my mouth. I can never tell if they're trying to help us or kill us honestly.

However, that is the job.

 **OH MY FUCKING GOD MY FINGERS HURT FROM TYPING. I literally was working on this like all night to get this out before I went back to school.**

 **Anyways, that's Chapter 10 Tier 1. Turns out ALL of you wanted me to continue in the present for a bit so I did. Now that I'm getting some reviews I can tell that you guys love this story and I do to. With that said I feel like I should let you guys have a direct impact on the story.**

 **So if you have any ideas or things you'd like added to the story let me know through a review that and I might add it to the story. You guys are the reason I do this and I love working on this story SO SO SO much.**

 **However, I have been thinking of making a new story. I will complete this arc don't worry but I have been thinking about doing another story in another universe. I was actually thinking RWBY. Whether that's a crossover or something else I'm still thinking about. So let me know about your opinions**

 **Hope you caught me little references to Black Hawk Down and COD in this.**

 **I'll hopefully have this arc done before September ends.**

 **With that information dump done with I'll write to you all in the next chapter**


	11. Chapter 11 Tier 1: Part 2

**Right this will be the last chapter in Halo: Force Recon for awhile. I will continue writing the next chapter but at a slower pace, as I'm taking time to start my new project. A RWBY fanfiction. All I can tell you is that it will be a crossover with Reeves. Pay attention in this chapter and you might find out how? With that all out of the way… Enjoy!**

Chapter 11

Tier 1: Part 2

The sound of screeching plasma ripping through the air filled the Mountain range. Violent explosions erupted in their wake and orbs of plasma soared through the air.

Evidently. Missiles twirled and spun to life towards their target. Unleashing a rage filled hell fire on impact. Vapor trails from sniper rifles cut through the enemy in a grotesque yet beautifully efficient fashion. Aircrafts danced in the sky in aggressive dogfights and

Bombing runs. All seamlessly working together.

"HENDRICK KEEP HITTIN' 'EM WITH THE SAW'S. ONYX, SUPPORT THE LEFT SIDE!" I barked out orders endlessly as I continued picking off targets with my BR from the forward position we had established.

This was the 4th wave we'd encountered in almost 15 minutes. In that time we'd destroyed 4 wraiths, 1 phantom, 7 ghosts, and more infantry than we could count. Things weren't looking good. The attacks had progressively gotten worse. A Chieftain had nearly broke our defenses.

"This is Onyx Actual to entry team. Defenses are holding for the time being but we may not be able to buy you much more time we need a status on your progress!?" I finished my sentence before taking a plasma round to the shoulder. The force of the impact knocked me on my ass. I could see steam rising from the shoulder pad.

I checked for blood. Only to find that it had breached every layer except a few millimeters between the pad and my body.

I counted my lucky stars and dropped to cover on one knee.

"Onyx Actual this is Sigma. We've reached the package but have run into… A complication. Special Warfare Operators are currently separated from us dealing with another threat." A loud explosion could be heard through the now static filled channel.

"Need immediate assistance we've marked our position with a waypoint." His comms cut short and all hails I sent to him came back with no response.

'Fuck'. I kept thinking to myself.

"Sierra, Martinez, Deruld, and Matthews. Maintain current orders. Everyone else on me ONI Operatives are need of assistance." I then quickly switched channels by adjusting a dial on the side of my Gungnir helmet.

"Grinch. I need you to keep things in order here. I'm leaving everyone in my Squad you'll need to hold the defense. I'm taking the rest of my team inside to assist ONI. they've dug themselves into a hole." The regret in my voice was evident. I know what it's like to have a superior leave your ass out to dry. Believe me in can piss you the fuck off. However, I needed these guys to be pissed.

"Solid copy Reev-." Another thunderous explosion rang out through the mountain range. Grinch picked up comms again.

"FUCK. ONI." He articulated each word with a gunshot.

There was no time to waste. We crouched low and started running towards the tunnel. When we reached it Cooper, Jones, Kerry, and I.

"Stay alert. They may of cleared out most of it but expect stragglers".

We switched on our NVG's and began moving through.

It was quiet, save the few select and deliberate gunshots echoing through the dirt walls.

At least for the first 60 yards or so…

As we slowly creeped through the tunnel and towards the waypoint the walls started breaking up. Small patches of silver and chrome appeared on the ceiling and floors as well.

"Permission to speak sir?" It was Kerry.

"Go for it" I responded in a hushed tone. Still keeping my sights trained down the hall.

"This doesn't look like Covenant infrastructure. It certainly ain't human at that." His voice raised when he finished. Doubt was prevalent, clear as day.

The words in my mouth tried to come out but seemed to have difficulty doing so.

"I-... Just look. A buildings a building. Check your corners. Watch for fatal funnels. The usual shit." My words lacked the usual 'controlled confidence' they had. In all honesty this was some ONI spook shit. Last thing I wanted was for a black line of ink to go through my name… Or my men.

The hushed, sarcastic. 'Yes Sir' was no boost in confidence either.

All the dirt peeled away and a bright light shined ahead. We were about 40 meters away from the waypoint. The gun fire had gotten louder and louder progressively. I ordered my men to switch NVG's off and we proceeded.

It's a good thing these helmets dampen out gunshots or we'd all be fucking deaf with the rapid BANGS ringing through the chrome complex.

We crossed the the light to find something… New.

The room was the size of a Hangar but filled to the brim with… Something?

Weird matter flowed through the sides of the walls and beams of lights stretched across the vast room. A subtle pulsing could be heard.

"Stay frosty. Down this corridor to the way point." We needed to stay on point. This is how people get killed. They forget the mission. We moved down the corridor to find another big entrance. Plasma fire shooting out from our end.

We stacked up against the wall. Cooper was on point with Kerry behind him. On Kerry's six would be me, and behind me would be Jones. We squeezed the back of each others legs signalling we were ready.

With a pretty fucking loud "GO!" so we could hear him over the gunfire. We pushed through the door and into another wide streched room. We didn't admire the interior decorating this time.

In front of us were the operatives. Crouching behind small crates for cover on both ends of the walls. Peeking out to hit targets.

And targets there were. With a quick glance I could see at least 15+ grunts in the middle of the room, a bunch of shield jackals on the Grunts flank preventing us from pushing to the sides. Then behind that… Zealots. I'd only faced them once before and it wasn't a good time. I'd love to explain it but you'd need a dictionaries worth of context.

We broke to each side of the wall. Cooper peppered probably 7 grunts with the SMG. the bullets ripping through their chests violently and bits and pieces of flesh sprayed outwards in a glorious fashion.

The line of grunts faltered and shifted fire towards Cooper and Kerry. With this distraction I started throwing lead at a Zealot working on a console. The back of his head crashed forward. The Elite broke off and hid behind some more crates nearby.

I looked back to see Kerry tossing a frag into a group of Jackals on the right side. The grenade went off launching the Jackals and their, now detached, limbs across the room in random directions.

The Operatives on the right side took advantage of this and pushed up. The layed down fire on the left side Jackals. While they picked them off the Zealots I'd mentioned earlier, all 4 of them. Now had everyone else's undivided attention. As elite as they were they had pinned themselves down in the center of the room. My team approached from the middle and the Operatives flanked each side.

As expected. The Zealots broke from cover and began firing in every direction. My guys simply lit up the first 2 we saw. They went down pretty quick .

That's when it happened. Sigma and Wolfe pushed up the left side and a stray plasma round went loose.

It nailed Wolfe center mass. He screamed in agony, dropping to the ground and spasming in pain. Cooper swapped to his shotgun and rushed up to the Elite. He was about 2 feet away when he pumped the M45 and blasted it in the face.

It's head came off completely.

The final Elite dropped quickly.

Sigma ran to Wolfe. Sliding in next to his body. He grabbed his hand and held him still while removing both his and Wolfe's Recon helmet.

"W-Wolfe. I need you to look at me okay? Wolfe just FOCUS on me!?" he continued holding his hand and shot his head up towards us.

"CORPSMAN! I NEED A FUCKING CORPSMAN!" He shouted towards us. The saliva stringed in his mouth and his eyes began to water.

"Kerry! You're the only one here with medical training. Get on him! NOW!" I swore I've never reacted so quickly in my life.

He slid next to his body and began applying first aid. I didn't watch the operation but I could feel the tension.

"Cooper watch the door." He moved in a heartbeat.

I took a breath and checked our surroundings. The room was smaller than the first one we'd been in. Unpacked crates were scattered across the it. As well, terminals both Covenant and unknown seemed to be connected to the object in the middle of the room. It was a large circular structure. However the center of it was flowing and pulsing with this strange light blue field in it.

A hand tapping my shoulder brought me out of my thoughts. It was Kerry.

"We lost him…" In less than 30 seconds Wolfe had died from a plasma round to the chest. 30… Fucking seconds. That's how quick it had always happened. I'd rarely ever met a person who actually made it the the operating table. I'd lost people before, but this felt different. Maybe because for once I was directly responsible for this man's life. Trusted to lead not just him but also his team through war. I still don't know.

Besides Wolfe body was Sigma. He placed his helmet back on both him and his brother before standing up and moving towards his men.

"Wraith, Spectre, start pulling any and all information from the terminals. We want to know what the hell this thing is?" All business. Per usual.

"Sigma what exactly is it?" I didn't want to ask. But before my name gets redacted I'd figured I should know.

He placed his hands on his hips and looked at me.

"It's a portal Lieutenant. As to where it goes or how it works is unknown. It's what we were here to find out. The rest is above your paygrade." he paused and signed inside his helmet.

"Look we owe you one. However, this is all that is required of you. You need to get the Task Force updated. We're leaving in less than 3 mikes. We've still got about 30 minutes left until they send this place sky high." He then proceeded to start typing something in on his TACPAD.

I called my men back to the door and switched on my radio.

"This is Onyx actual to all units. Package is secure, we'll be leaving in less than 3 mikes. Outlaw 1-1 and 1-2 I need you to provide airstrikes on any target South of our defenses. Heavy ordnance. Keep any dropships or bogies from getting more troops on the deck. Flint and Steel teams. Start securing our exit down the hill." I stopped to take a breath. My tone was monotone and lacking any energy whatsoever. I kinda sounded like Captain Jacob from back when I was a Corporal.

"Be advised… ONI Ground Operative, callsign 'Wolfe' is KIA. I repeat Wolfe is KIA. We're pulling him out."

I shouldered my rifle before walking out. 'We've got a lot of ground to cover'

We left the same way we came in. Knowing there was nothing going to surprise us we switched on the lights on our guns for illumination. The chrome was were slowly devoured by the dirt and mud before all that was visible was just a hole in the mountain.

We walked out in a 3 man split. Special Warfare operators headed up the middle while ONI and my guys hugged the walls of the cave. On operative Wraith's back was Wolfe. He was carrying him in the back with a fireman's carry. We didn't say a word. Just kept walking.

"Steel actual to Onyx actual. We've cleared a path out of the compound but are encountering heavy resistance near the base of the mountain. Air support is busy dealing with fast movers and dropships to support. We could use a hand down here." Mako's voice was panicked. The cracks of rifles and unsteady breathing was prominent.

I checked our timeline.

27 minutes left.

"Solid copy Mako. We're enroute to you. ETA 1 mike. We are exiting the excavation site now and moving to the compound. Good work" Despite the circumstances I had to give it to the ODST's. With only 18 men they'd not only fought off wave after wave of armor and infantry but pushed them back as well.

"Alright guys double-time it. We're down to 27 minutes." They decided not to respond and opted to transition into a heavy jog.

We exited the cave and were temporarily blinded by the bright snow that was reflecting the sun's light.

We moved down the Mountain and into the compound in less than 30 seconds, picking off the occasional straggler or 2.

We passed through the wrecked courtyard. The bodies were still there and while they weren't sizzling anymore the burn marks from my little killing spree were still prominent.

After about an additional 20 seconds we exited through the hole in the wall that the operators had so kindly made. From there we could see the firefight below.

The ODST's and Covenant slung plasma and lead back and forth with each other. The latter losing men left and right while the other was untouched. That's ODST's for ya'.

I could see the men I left behind picking off targets left and right. To say I didn't feel pride in witnessing their killing prowess would be a fat lie. A small smirk grew across my face. If only for a moment.

We opened up from our elevated position about 200 yards out and chewed up any target within sight. High ground baby!

Within about 2 minutes and MANY magazines later the last Elite, Grunt, and Jackal had fallen to the cold snow beneath them lifeless. The wind swirled around their bodies, causing the snow to slowly bury them in a frozen tomb.

I checked my watch again only to see we'd burned a solid 5 minutes somehow.

22 minutes to go.

"22 minutes left! GET YOUR ASSES DOWN THE MOUNTAIN NOW!" In a full till sprint each and every Tier 1 unit raced down the hill. Kicking up copious amounts of snow.

We didn't care about covering each other or clearing the area. We just wanted to get off this FUCKING ROCK!.

"Task Force Sigma this is Hotel 1-1. I've got 1-2 and 1-3 with wheels on the deck down here. You've got 5 minutes to get yourselves onboard so we can reach a minimum safe distance. I repeat 5 minutes." We could see the 3 Pelicans landing near the base of the Mountain. We'd gotten about 3 quarters down by now.

Suddenly everyone seemed to run just a bit faster than they were before.

All of a sudden another voice came on comms.

"This is Helix 1-5. Be advised Task Force, I am enroute and 7 minutes to weapons release." These guys really do want to kill us? We had like 18 minutes left. What the fuck!?

The snow slowly faded away as we started running on solid rock towards the Pelicans.

We loaded up into them with 60 seconds left until they dusted off.

"This is Hotel 1-1. Task Force is onboard. We're dusting off now. All friendly air assets in the area. Wave off. I repeat wave off and return to ship." We could here the middle aged voice of our pilot from the cockpit. We could hear the responses of the other aircraft.

"Outlaw 1-1. Waving off."

"Outlaw 1-2. Waving off"

"Hotel 1-2. Dusting off"

"Hotel 1-3. Dusting off"

"All friendly aircraft be advised. Recommend you break for minimum safe distance. I am 60 seconds to weapons release." I always found it amazing how pilots talked to each other. I'll give 'em that. Even at high speeds while getting shot at they can usually maintain a high level of professionalism.

The tailgate to the Pelican remained open. As the Mountain range got smaller and smaller I could see a Shortsword fly over head. As it passed over the Mountain range an abrupte explosion engulfed the Mountains. Leaving a smoldering crater in its wake.

"Reeves this is Grant." I held my hand over my earpiece and looked up to the sky. Obviously to no one in particular. "Yeah… Go ahead."

"I'll need the Task Force ready for a debriefing the moment you land. All helmet cam data is to be turned over as well." I was going to respond with a snarky sarcastic comment like I usually do but the feed was cut short.

I looked over to the ONI guys across from us.

"Alright everyone listen up. I don't agree with it, nor do I like it, but we're being debriefed the moment we land back on the Ascension. All helmet cam data is to be turned over and yada yada yada. You all know what to do." The ride up was short. The tailgate closed and we broke orbit. Apparently the Navy actually destroyed all 2 cruisers in orbit. It also appeared that the Ascension was the only ship left standing as well. So… Score 1 for the Navy?

As we flew in the hangar we could see engineer teams rushing back and forth from station to station repairing heavily damaged equipment and even grabbing pilots out of wrecked aircraft.

I may of also forgot to mention that the Ascension was also practically on fire.

So… Minus 1 point to the Navy?

The Pelicans bounced slightly as the wheels touched down and the tailgate opened. We all funneled out of it. We stumbled over each other while getting out from time to time. We all seemed to unconsciously remove our helmets in synchronization. I looked around at each of us. No words were spoken but we all knew we looked like a horde of zombies.

Time seemed to slow down as we slowly shuffled off the landing pad and through the hangar. People were being wheeled out, steam was shooting out of pipes, lights and alarms were blaring in the background.

In the middle of all it was just people. What I didn't realize before was how tired everyone looked. Hell even the damn janitors were running from person to person handing out water.

Some were barking orders.

Some were screaming in agony.

Some were even just standing there. In shock.

A day of fighting does that to people.

What most people don't get is that after it's all said and done. Once the fighting stops, once the battle comes to a close, it's the silence that drives you mad. Of course I'm not talking about actual silence. In all actuality the hangar was loud as hell. I'm talking about the gunfire, explosions, screaming, and destruction. Like a rollercoaster it just stops all of a sudden. No warning, no soft landing, the fighting just… Stops.

Marines rushed from the Hangar doors and began assisting both the Naval personnel and their own fellow Marines who had been injured in what was probably a boarding.

We slogged ourselves up the stairs and onto the catwalks at the back of the hanagar. We broke off to the right and towards one off to one of the doors leading to the briefing room. As we walked by we noticed Marines begin to look up from their duties towards us. They cleared the way and some threw up a salute towards us.

We could here the whispers clear as day

"Special Forces!?"

"Where the hell were these guys?"

"I heard they took down an entire battalion and blew up a fucking mountain!"

"They look like shit?"

Didn't matter. We just kept marching on.

The doors slid open and we entered the hallways. Small defenses had been set up out of crates and boxes. A few barricades were scattered here and there but to call it makeshift would be and understatement.

We rounded more corners than we could count before we reached the briefing room.

We stopped. All 4 teams just stopped. A small breath of anticipation was shared in those following moments before I typed a password into the keypad and the door shot open.

In front of us was Major Grant, Overlord as he was codenamed, and that Naval officer.

We split and spread ourselves out along the long and wide holotable encompassing the room. As any soldier would do we stood at attention. Every single one of us wanted this to be over as soon as possible.

"Good work gentleman on securing the data. This will prove insurmountable amounts of knowledge that can be used. I understand that you all are extremely fatigued so let's just get this over with." Overlord was at least kind enough to respect our broken state of body.

We all removed the data chips in our helmets and slid them across the table towards the officers. While Sigma tossed the data he had collected into the hands of the Naval officer whose name I still didn't know or couldn't be fucked to remember anyway.

He inspected the small chip before nodding to the Major.

"Dismissed. Get some rest, especially the ForCon guys, 3 days in the field is a hell of a trip." We exited the room in an orderly fashion. The rest of the guys shook hands with each other and started dispersing.

"So uh… Reeves? What we gonna do now" Of course Martinez would ask something like that.

I pulled out a cigar from a utility pouch on my belt and the lighter from my pocket. I lit the cigar and began chomping down on it. Never was much of a smoker, but I couldn't give a damn right now.

"Well, you heard the Major. As far as y'all are concerned you are now officially off-duty for the time being. So grab some chow or shut eye, hit on some chicks I don't give a fuck. You've all earned it." I walked away while giving a small 2-finger salute and strolled to the barracks.

Might I also add that I took a long ass-time because the cigar was making the walk so much more enjoyable.

The doors to my companies bunk shot open with the slight screech of metal and flow of hydraulics.

I walked over to the side of the room where my personnel bunk and office was.

Now it may seem strange to seperate myself, which denotes the whole idea of equality but it's for a reason.

My men need to see me at my constant best, I learned that from Captain Jacob. When I'm weak or on the verge of collapse I retreat here and regroup. That way when they see me they don't see the broken old man out of time. They see the patient, calm, indestructible leader they need.

That's what Jacob was.

God I miss him, he taught me everything I didn't teach myself. What I'd do to just have him give me his knowledge. He's gone though… There all gone. Everyone.

I closed my office's door behind me and began stripping down to my undergarments and a baggy T-shirt. I placed myself onto the chair at my desk.

I turned to the mirror on the back of my door.

I looked like hell. The thin beard I once had was beginning to grow into a bush. My brown eyes seemed to lose color day by day. The scars on my arms alone didn't help my image as well.

What I'd kill for a chance to just see the old gang again. Schiller, Cam, Jacob… Havoc.

I looked towards that same pocket watch I'd kept with me. When I had dropped and burned everything that connected me to this god forsaken war except my name. That… That was the one thing I kept. The memories, happiness, regret, sorrow, that pocket watch brought was about the only thing connecting me to my humanity.

I dropped the cigar on the ashtray and layed in bed. I set an alarm for 4 hours. All I needed.

As my mind faded and began conjuring images from past memories I heard one saw one last thing in my mind before being enveloped in my dream… or was it a nightmare.

I was back in that desert on Dasios…

 **11 chapters down. Honestly if anyone had said that I'd be grossing nearly 1000 viewers from this story I would of said you were nuts. If we keep gaining viewers at this rate we'll be at 1000 very soon. I say 'we' because this is your guys story as well.**

 **So leave a review I always love to hear what you guys have to say about a new chapter, idea, or the whole story so please speak up.**

 **Sadly, I will be slowing down progress on this story as I'm focusing my attention on a new story. A RWBY crossover. Y'all remember that portal, I'll let you guys think of its importance. Anyway, yes the story will have more than just Reeves, the UNSC will be involved and so will the main cast. I also will not be afraid to change slight plot elements or poke and character flaws in this crossover.**

 **So as I said keep your eyes peeled for a new story.**

 **Have a great day/night/evening.**

 **I'll write to you all later.**


	12. Chapter 12 A Long Trip

**Welcome back! After creating 4 chapters for my other story I decided it was time to come back to my roots. Simple as that. Enjoy!**

Chapter 12

A Long Trip

" _REEVES COVER THE DOOR!" The screams and gunfire of enemy and brothers alike surrounded my senses. A small desert town was now becoming a full on warzone. As the sun set over the horizon, enveloping the land in an orange hue, 16 men held a tiny apartment building._

" _FUCK! CAM, HELP ME WITH THIS GUY HE'S BLEEDING OUT" The combat medic screamed out to the Private near him. On the table was a single Marine. Sergeant Estin of Granite Team layed still. His own blood spilling onto the tiled floor around him. His arms hung loosely off the sides of the table and his legs dangled over the end._

 _I crouched near the entrance to the apartment complex and scanned for targets. For the longest time I thought that nothing could surpass the Covenant in shear evil and pain. For the most part I was right._

 _But these Insurrectionists were a painful reminder of that both humans and alien alike could create destruction. They also resurfaced memories of a time long passed. Of a time where I stood on the other side of this road._

 _A pair of rocketeers popped out of cover from a low roof on the other side of the street dividing us. I shot the first one in the head. His knees buckling immediately. As he fell his rocket launcher went off and blasted the corner of the building into oblivion._

 _Another voice boomed from behind me. It was Captain Jacobs._

" _Command we've got a WIA on our hands. The target has been neutralized but we're pinned down! Requesting AV-14 Hornet Attack VTOL's on our position ASAP!"_

 _As more targets ran out I racked a higher and higher kill count. Their blood shooting out of their bodies in a nice pink mist._

" _WE'RE LOSING HIM CAPTAIN!" Our medic Kolt was frantically using bandages and applying pressure to wounds as bullets continue to slam against the other side of the wall in the room he was at._

 _I slammed another mag into my DMR before picking off more targets._

 _Then suddenly a bullet slammed into my chest piece. The plate stopped the round but the force of the impact knocked me on my ass. I began coughing and squirming in pain._

" _SHIT REEVE'S! DON'T WORRY MAN I'VE GOT YOU" Havoc dropped his firing stance from the long stretch of windows beside the door. He slung his rifle to his hip and pivoted towards me. He grabbed the straps of my plate carrier and pulled me out of the line of fire and into cover._

 _I rolled onto my hands and knees, still coughing from the force of the bullet._

" _I-I'm fine. *wheeze* Hit my carrier." I leaned against the wall as the bullets continued to fly into the room. I regurgitated and spit out the last feelings of shock and got back into position._

 _Langley called out from another room. He was one of ours, he covered the streets and kept any advancing reinforcements at bay._

" _LAST MAG!"_

 _I checked my own supplies before groaning internally._

" _SAME HERE!"_

 _We'd been fighting through this town for nearly 15 hours with no end in sight. Every LZ was either too hot or got overrun. The blood stained sand and rock created a path that we carved out through the city._

" _Command if we don't get air support then we are going to die!" The Captain's usual calm demeanor seemed to be thrown out the window as he verbally wrestled with the brass over the radio._

 _Dehydrated and for all we knew, left behind enemy lines we got desperate. Picking up enemy weapons and breaking into civilians home to hide from the militia sweeping the streets._

 _As I raised my rifle one final time. My vision became blurred and my breath out of synch. The only words that I could remember clearly were…_

 _What were they…_

" _RPG!"_

I didn't shoot up from my bed. I didn't scream. My eyes calmly opened and I slowly sat up. Checking my alarm clock I noticed that I still had 1 hour until it went off. Might as well get an early start.

I slid off my mattress and threw on my BDU pants. Keeping a compressive 'Marine' T-shirt on. I grabbed the pocket watch I left on my desk and left my office into the 1st Force Recon Company bunks. A few Marines from Metal and Copper team were asleep. I stayed quiet and exited into the halls of the ship. Ever since our last Op with the rest of the Tier 1 units the UNSC Ascension had practically become a flying JSOC base. They'd deploy us for joint ops wherever they needed us.

I continued down the halls. Glancing out towards the planet below from the windows of the ship. I was on my way to the mess hall to grab some coffee. Maybe something to eat.

This whole situation was messing with my head. I didn't like how HIGHCOM was just shoving a battalions worth of Special Forces and Special Op's guys in the same ship and basically saying. 'Now play nice!'

By all means we didn't hate each other. I actually felt a lot safer working with Army operators or ODST's. Problem was that sooner or later ONI would become more and more involved. Until soon enough they'd probably just turn us into a suicide squad. God I hated working with ONI.

I reached the mess hall and saw Martinez and Sierra sitting by themselves near the center. Whatever they were talking about seemed… Serious. Not wanting to press them or make the situation more uncomfortable than I'm assuming it already was. I walked by, grabbed a cup of coffee and a few pieces of toast. Then left. They didn't bat an eye, I didn't bother them. Simple as that.

It wasn't that I was like some kinda middle-schooler that avoided awkward situation. Frankly, I could give less of a fuck about awkwardness at a time like this. I never understood how people let the idea of something being awkward get in the way of doing something.

Anyway, the reason I didn't speak to them is that they just got back from an almost 3 day deployment in the field. Last thing I needed was to cause one of them to blow.

I ate the pieces of toast as I walked in the halls. Savoring each bite of the buttery crispness it provided. I've been in this game for years, and the taste of MRE's still makes me shiver. I devoured the toast in seconds despite me desperately trying to cling to it's taste.

An alert had been sent via the PA system that the hangar was in need of volunteers to come help clear the ruble left in the wake of the attack. I increased the pace of my walk and drank from the disposable cup along the way.

I rounded another corner to see 4 regular Marines jogging to the hangar. I sighed internally and downed the cup before throwing it in the trash. Why the trash? Because fuck recycling, that's why.

Also because there wasn't one nearby… So.

The doors to the hangar slid open with another hydraulic hiss and I entered to see that the place wasn't as chaotic as before. The place had changed drastically in less than 4 hours. The busted pipes had been repaired, the blaring lights and sirens were now snuffed out, and the wounded had been cleared out.

I saw that the stairs down to the flight deck was blocked by a piece of a pelicans wing. I ran towards the railing and vaulted over it. The 7 foot drop seemed long but I hit the deck with little problem. I then jogged over to the side of the pelican wing that was currently being moved by at least 8 other people. I saw 'moved' lightly as they were fighting with each other about where to take it.

I grabbed my side of the wreckage and raised my voice.

"HEY! You can continue arguing or you can move this thing. Frankly, I don't give a shit. Mainly because I outrank you so listen up!" I hated having to pull rank but sometimes I had to get shit done. So it had to be done.

I looked around before finding the place I sought after.

"Alright… We're gonna lift this thing up then move it 145 degrees. Then about 40 feet forward to the scrap shoot. Everyone got that? Good!" We all counted down and lifted up the wing all together. We grunted and groaned as we moved the large piece of debris to the scrap shoot. Where it would be either crushed and compacted, or melted down. That was the Navy's choice so I didn't really care.

We dropped it next to the shoot and all moved to one side. We placed both of our hands on it and began pushing. The debris inched forward until enough of it was over the shoot for gravity to do the rest. The shoot itself was about as big as an elevator so we didn't exactly need to be precise.

We all recoiled back, our chests pulsing up and down as we gasped for breaths.

I looked over to see my PFC had been pushing the thing all along. Jones wore a simple pair of glasses over his face. His eyes were a dimmed brown and his hair was practically a fresh regulation cut.

We both smiled at each other as I walked over to him and shook his hand.

"Good to see you out of bed Lieutenant." I chuckled before giving him a light punch on the chest.

"That was a low blow and you know it." We laughed once more as we continued on our way helping where we could. Eventually we found ourselves helping out a pair of engineers repair a hog in the shop. Now, I may not of been an engineer but I know a thing or 2 about mechanics.

"So um? Tell me Jones… Why'd you join the Marines?" he perked up from his work. Oil and grease spread out across his face and arms.

"Uh? What 'ya mean?" I smirked and rolled my eyes.

"Seriously man? Nice school and education. Could've gotten a job designing ships like this rather than busting your ass in one? So I'll ask again, why'd you join." The sizzling of grinders hitting metal and the sound of welding tools fuzing metal together.

"Honest? As much as I was good at that shit… Just wasn't for me 'ya know? I'd way rather be out in the field working a comms rig than sitting in some lab with a bunch of nerds." I nodded my head and smiled at his response. I could tell when someone was being honest.

"Good… Good. Now I won't have to call you a nerd from here on out!" We both chuckled at that before getting back to work. Jones would do all of the calculations and talk with the engineers. I did lifting, mostly. That's when I got a message from Cooper on my TACPAD that was still attached to my wrist. He was telling me to meet him in the armory as soon as possible. I obliged.

"Sorry Jones. I've got shit to attend to. Nice working with 'ya." We shook hands a final time as I left the repair shop. Jogging to the armory. I had a feeling that this was a logistics or administrative problem. As much as being a 2nd Lieutenant gave me the ability to do things my way, I still was held down by paper work sometimes.

I reached the armory and found Cooper, holo-pad in hand. He was overlooking the weapons and supplies rack with a very disturbed look on his face. "What is it now Cooper?" I placed my hands on my hip and looked at the assortment of BR's, AR's, M45's, and other weapons. On the surface nothing looked wrong. I had a gut feeling that these weapons weren't as good as they looked though.

"I'm gonna take a guess and say that they're internally fucked up as much as I believe?" Cooper just looked back. His hulking form slouching to a humble low. "Yeah… Every fucking time I do inventory it's always 2nd Platoon that doesn't assemble them properly during maintenance." I patted him on the shoulder sympathetically. "Ya' know what big guy? Since this seems to be bothering you so much how about this…" I sent a request along the ships network for public address access. Soon enough the request was granted.

Before activating the PA system on my TACPAD I looked at Cooper. "I'll call 'em down and you can give them the MOST intuitive briefing on proper firearm assembly First Sergeant." The devilish grin on my face made Cooper chuckle under his breath while shaking his head. Holding my TACPAD up to my mouth I began.

"Would 2nd Platoon 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, please report to the armory ASAP. Please make sure to change into your PT gear. Thank you." I switched off the mic and looked at Cooper. "If they so much as make one mistake, you have them run 6 laps around the hangar bay. I don't care if it takes all day. They learn it right or they don't leave." I swear I've never seen Cooper smile so fucking wide in my life after that.

That's when the ship jerked violently for no specified reason we could tell. We looked at each other suspiciously and inched towards the weapons on the rack.

Another attack?

Boarding party?

We didn't know the answer yet but we were on edge enough. This ship had taken a beating and a Corvette alone would probably destroy it. If it was serious though? Wouldn't the Navy already be warning us. As if to answer my thoughts the PA came on.

"We apologize for the abrupte jump but we are currently entering slipspace." We looked at each other. The look of suspicion now changed into angry confusion. We bursted out the armory and sprinted to the nearest window. Despite the shaking and rocking of the ship. When we reached it we could only see the planet below for a split second before nothing but a storm of blew clouded the windows view.

NO! WE JUST FOUGHT FOR THAT DIRT GODDAMNIT!

I slammed my fist on the glass in anger. Just once, and only for a moment. I breathed in and composed myself. I needed to be calm. This has happened before, it'll probably happen again. It was just war. I was used to this.

"Cooper. They run 8 laps around the hangar you hear?" In the corner of my eye I saw him nod. A tinge of fear in his face was evident from his eyes. "Good." I then placed my hands behind my back and walked back to my quarters. I had plans to try and reorganize another recon party in the days to come with the Major. Now that we were leaving, that shit got launched out the window. Guess I had some freetime.

Stopping by the mess hall one more time I grabbed another cup of coffee. The only difference this time was that I grabbed an apple and a bowl of rice. I wasn't angry any more. I just realized how hungry I was. So I decided some carbs would do the trick.

Low and behold.

Martinez and Sierra were still tied to the hip in the mess hall. This time I had to say something.

"Ya know… With how long you 2 have been talking for. I'd say you guys have been planning an operation or some shit." I stood next to Martinez. Choosing not to sit down as I would probably leave in a few seconds. I didn't really come to chat, I just came to poke fun at Martinez. Primarily because it was the only semblance of joy I still had in life.

"W-What? No sir we've just been talking about s-stuff ya know? Just a friendly conversation?" Martinez kinda reminded of me when I first joined the Marines. Which is weird because he's been in for quite a few years. Which meant that his stuttering had to do with being interrupted with his conversation rather than fear of a superior. Whatever they were talking about was juicy.

"Ya, sure? Just your average platonic 2 hour conversation?" Sierra blushed slightly before giggling at Martinez's misery. I smirked before walking back to my bunks. As the door slid open I could see more Force Recon teams relaxing and entertaining themselves in anyway possible. Saber team was playing a game of cards, Metal team was using the small TV we had in the bunks to play some game I didn't care for, and my own team seemed to drift from group to group. Kerry and Deruld were playing cards with Saber, all while Matthews was working with Anvil team's demolitionist about something that probably had to do with explosives. Just guessing.

I entered the room and all 26 Marines shot up and stood at attention. Of course, they didn't salute as we were in doors and none were under arms. I slightly waved my hand at my side as they relaxed slightly. "As you were." I positioned myself somewhat in the corner of the room, making sure I could observe each and every one of them. As I went over all of the listings on my TACPAD, my eyes drifted close. Soon I was back in that fucking desert.

 _The RPG blasted open a hole in the wall beside me. Kicking up sand, dust, ruble, and drywall._

 _Right where Havoc was standing. I saw him get launched almost 7 feet back into the building. As an oncoming storm of bullets swarmed through the opening like a pack of hungry wolves._

" _HAVOC'S HIT! COVER ME" I dropped my position pivoting towards him. I stayed crouched as I made my way towards him as fast as humanly possible. He was directly in the line of fire. Only saved from the onslaught of enemy rounds by a small piece of broken wall that collapsed on him._

" _Fuck… Don't risk it man! They've *cough* got me pinned!" I leveled my rifle so it was pointing out of the giant hole in the wall. Picking off 4 targets before dropping back into cover. "Ain't no way in hell man! You saved my ass I save yours!" I needed something to draw their fire from at the most, 5 seconds. In combat though, that can be a high price to ask for._

" _Someone get on that M41!" I shouted over comms hoping that Viking team would do something for once on the roof. Much to my hopes, I could hear the rhythmic thundering of the chaingun we placed on the roof firing. I ran over to Havoc, pushing the wreckage off of him and pulling him back into cover. I checking him over, no external wounds other than some scratches and cuts. The wall took most of the blast, but there was no stopping the force of it though._

" _You're gonna be okay. Your insides may be banged up but I can assure you that your ugly face is still intact!" His mouth opened up as he chuckled. Causing some of the dust on his face to fall into it. It's also worth noting that his helmet had been launched across the room. Still intact but not on him. He coughed it up and grabbed his SAW, which was still attached via a 2-point sling. As much as I didn't want him fighting, we were short on guys. I slammed the charging handle down on the side of the gun._

" _You're loaded! Any Innies come around here you pop 'em!" I grabbed his helmet and left his by his side. I then ran to the Captain, who was still arguing with the radio operator at the moment. He looked at me giving me the nod. The nod that he'd used 4 times before today. The nod that signified I had to step up now. With Estin dying in the other room, I was the highest commanding rank in the building. I popped on local comms._

" _Alright here's the situation! Granite's lead is getting tended too, Onyx is fucked up badly, Viking you guys are the only combat effective team so your doing the heavy lifting." And Oorah was all I got in reply._

" _The Captain's still pinching the brass' balls to get us some air support for the time being. We can't abandon this position as we're completely surrounded. So unless you're on that M41, save your shots. We may be here for a few hours." The corner of the wall in front of me was suddenly chipped away. I shot my head back into cover and continued on comms._

" _Viking you guys keep doing the same shit you've been doing for the last 40 minutes. Cover from the roof and keep them from getting too close. Granite I need you to secure the mid to ground floors. Keep the fuckers who slip through from getting inside. As for anyone left in Onyx… I'll need you shifting from location to location. If ANY of the other teams need assistance call for it and the remnants of Onyx will be there!" A loud and sweeping oorah! Filled the air waves as we continued on our fight. I remained on the bottom floor. Popping enemy targets until I heard that all too familiar *CLICK*._

 _I turned my weapon to it's side as I checked the ejection port to make sure it wasn't jammed. It wasn't I was empty._

" _I'M DRY!" I held my back against a wall, trying to figure out what the hell to do now. Usually I would just take the enemies weapon as most of them were just stolen UNSC firearms. I wasn't willing to run out into enemy fire though. Not yet at least._

" _REEVES! CATCH, THESE ARE ESTIN'S HE WON'T BE UP FOR SOME TIME!" The medic that was tending to the Sergeant peeked out from his room. He tossed me a small sack that rattled as it flew in the air. I grabbed it and opened it up. Inside was 4 shiny new DMR mags. I loaded a new one in and slammed the charging handle down. Much to my satisfaction as I could hear the click of the weapons reset. My ammo counter shooting back up to 15. I smiled under my helmet and got back to finding new targets._

This time I woke up with a violent jolt. Not because I was scared or surprised. But because I had been punched in the gut. I looked up to see who my assaulter was, only to see the devilish smile of Matthews. My scowl turned into a smile, as I realized that this had to be good.

"Sorry to wake you out of your little nap there LT. We've got a game blackjack going on, figured it'd be nice to see you get your ass handed to you?" I laughed one more time before littly kicking him in the chin. I rose from my sitting position and made my way towards the table they were playing at. 9 other people were sitting around the table with each their own stock of bullets as money.

Each round flew by as we all made bets and played until one of us ran out. Eventually it came down to me and Saber teams lead, Camden. I had 13 bullets, he had 15. I cooled my nerves as this was probably the least stressful thing I'd be doing all day. My eyes locked with his as I decided it was time to make a gamble. Pushing all of my bullets into the middle I stared him into the floor. "All in?" He hesitated only for a moment before he decided to oblige. Shoving all 15 of his own into the middle. We drew our cards, I checked my own and saw I had an 18 in total. Camden stood with his cards, knowing that he'd only do that if he was close to bursting, I decided to take a risky hit. I drew a 2.

We flipped our cards and counted up the sum. Camden was left with 19, I on the other hand was left with 20. The group around us burst into shouts and hollers of excitement as I stood up and shook his hand. "Man… you took a hit with 18! You've got some balls." He exasperated, I chuckled and began strutting back to my chair. "That's the secret, sometimes an extremely risky strategy, when you seemed pinned in, can lead to victory. It can also lead to defeat. The key is to understand WHEN to take the risk, not should you take the risk." I dropped back into my chair and sent the boys a 2 finger salute.

As if fate realized that my day was finally slowing down and I was relaxing. It decided to throw a wrench into all of it.

"All UNSC personnel report to the briefing room immediately." The room's vibe stopped in its tracks. The Marines all looked back and forth from each other. Trying to process the sudden order. I groaned for what felt like the 30th time today and rose from my chair. "Oi! Get out of your chairs and start moving your asses!" They shot up and started piling out of the room. I followed closely behind.

As we entered the halls we could see all combat units jogging quickly in the same direction. Special Warfare Operators, 1st Marines, and of course 1st Force Recon. As we neared the briefing room I could hear the, not so subtle, whispers pick up. I tuned them out and focused on whatever the hell the brass was planning for us. My head wanted to believe that this was probably just another fucking safety brief. My gut told me it was something much worse.

As the grunts all entered into the large briefing room and filled into their own little sections. I climbed up a set of stairs that led to a balcony that usually the Operation Commander would occupy alongside other officers while telling the men about the mission ahead. As I stopped near the top Major Grant stood next to a holotable. His back to the crowd and facing an assortment of officers. An ODST Captain, ONI Lieutenant, Marine Warrant Officer, and an Army 1st Lieutenant. There were more of course. I just didn't bother.

Feeling the tension in the air I decided to speak up. Despite being one of the lower ranks here. To be honest I lost all fear of the chain of command a long time ago. "Grant. Why are we here?" He looked towards the floor in a tired gesture. Then his eyes shot up and seemed to gun down each one of us.

"They found Reach."

…

…

…

…

Even though we were in a ship, I swore you could hear crickets.

"Look… Before I destroy these boys will to live I'll fill ya'll in on the mission ahead."

He tapped a few thing on the holotable before turning back to us.

"On July 23 1600 military time the Visegrad relay, 1 of 3 main communication relays, went dark. Effectively cutting off Reach from the rest of the UNSC temporarily." We shuffled in out boots. Eager to hear anything that would prepare us for what lied ahead.

"15 minutes later a small SPECWAR fireteam designated 3 Charlie, was sent in to investigate the loss of contact. At the time it was chalked up to 'rebel attacks'. They went dark only a few hours later." Our ears stayed tuned into what he was saying attentively. Small details about enemy forces could be picked at times like this.

"A day later at 0028 hours. A team of Spartans was sent in to investigate not only the disappearance of the fireteam, but the relay as well. Within the span of minutes they come in contact with Covenant Forces." The math in my head started to make sense. Those relays connected Reach to the rest of the UNSC. It was currently August 11th as of today, which meant the relays had been down for nearly 2 weeks!

"We've re-established contact with Reach but from reports I'm getting… It's not going well. Massive Covenant forces have been embarrassing there for quite some time. Which is why we're being called in. That's all you need to know right now, I'll fill in the blanks after the briefing." We all nodded. Understanding that we probably had a few hours at best until we arrived at Reach. Not wanting to waste time we scurried to our positions on the balcony as the Major looked down at all of the gathered men below him. He cleared his throat and began to speak.

"As of July 24th 0028 hours… The Winter Contingency had been declared on Reach." The room was filled with a collective whisper and gasps of horror and uncertainty.

"The UNSC has only recently been alerted to the Covenant threat on Reach and is responding immediately. If any of you were wondering… WE'RE the response. We'll be exiting slipspace a few short hours. From there, each unit will be designated an AO and an objective. The Army is planning a massive assault on a Covie staging area. We'll be there support." He activated the holotable, it showed a 3D display of the planet and what appeared to be strategic locations, targets, and friendly positions on a large stretch of land. It was surrounded by the sea with only one pass back to the mainland.

"The area we'll be working in is the Viery territory… Now, I don't think I need to stress the importance of Reach to all of you. Or even how badly you should want to die for it. However, once we hit the ground you'll understand. You are the UNSC's finest gentleman." The men below starting cheering and getting riled up.

"You don't give a damn 'bout how many fucking aliens you gotta kill!" They started getting louder and louder. The Major seemed to have a hard time forcing his voice over theirs.

"SO GET READY FOR THE FIGHT OF YOUR LIVES! DISMISSED." The room broke into a war cry. Each branch gave off their own. Fromm the many 'Oorah's' to the Armies very own 'Hooah'. These boys were ready to go to war.

He pulled all the officers to the table as they began clearing out. Leaving just a few Navy personnel in the room to tend to the ships various needs. "Okay… Invigorating speeches aside, this isn't going to be easy. Other than us, the nearest UNSC battle group, Fleet… Hell, even ship is a day or 2 away!" We stayed fixated on the battle lines and strategic map of the Viery territory. Memorizing each ounce of tactical data we could.

"Force Recon will be handling AA defenses within their own inner perimeter. You'll be conducting hit and run raids throughout the course of the assault. Light up their battle net and create some confusion." I nodded alongside a few other Force Recon officers in the room. He then looked to the Special Warfare guys and pointed to the edge of the map.

"Special Warfare Operators will be assaulting the southern side of the Covenant territory. You'll be opening up a hole so we can deploy more ground forces. Effectively turning this battle into a 4 sided front." Afterwards he looked towards some ONI and ODST officers. That's when he pointed at a few UNSC installations deep within the heart of the land.

"You won't be dropping behind enemy lines. Rather, you'll be dropping right in the goddamn middle of them. We've got some hidden and not-so-hidden UNSC facilities that need to be take care of. Each facility will be designated to certain teams." He then enlarged the map. Showing all of the targets and objectives at once.

"The whole thing is being coordinated by Colonel Holland. If all goes well we'll be pushing them off Reach and buying more time for reinforcements to dig their heels into Reach's dirt a little further. The Navy hasn't dealt with anything massive yet. A few Cruisers and Corvettes." As all of us began moving down the stairs to get to our teams and companies, I felt someone grab my arm. It was the Major. "I'll need you to stay behind." I looked past him to see Sigma standing at the table. My frown deepened.

I walked back and leaned against the railing.

"Reeves. You're team has been selected for another special mission." I moved to retort before he could speak again. But was promptly silenced.

"Don't worry. Captain Maxwell will be commandeering the 1st Force Recon in your absence." I relaxed a bit and leaned back on the railing. I didn't like it. I should be out there with my guys. Not like I had a choice though.

"You'll be running with the ONI Ground Ops you worked with last mission. I believe you'll be familiar with Sigma. He was the one that recommended you for this mission actually." I perked up and shot him a glance. He respectfully nodded towards me and I returned the favor before he spoke up. "You helped pull my guy out. I owe you. Besides, the whole reason we brought you back from your early retirement was for assignments like this one. We're short on ODST's and I have no problem upgrading to you guys." I smirked at his kind flattery.

"As I was saying… There is a 5th installation I need you to handle. Normally, we would use Spartans but we're short in supply for that. The nearest teams have all been assigned to the spires." We knew what the spires were. During his debrief, the holographic display showed pictures taken by recon teams to the men.

"It is imperative that you complete this next mission. I've been given clearance to discuss the nature of this assignment with you. This way you won't be fighting with a bag over your head." I sighed in relief. For once I wouldn't be utterly and completely fucking confused with ONI.

"The objective is to extract data on an experimental weapon in the R&D labs. As well, should you find anything physical that wasn't destroyed yet. Secure it and makes sure it either gets incinerated or extracted. Though, any physical research and documents were destroyed as the site was assaulted. As for the digital shit. That all got locked down rather than deleted. Something went wrong." I mentally noted that the place would be a wreck. There would still be an enemy presence there if anything. That's when the PA went off again.

"We will be exiting slipspace in 1 and a half hours. Be ready to disembark." I looked towards Grant as he stared at both of us. He gestured towards the door with his head and we ran down the stairs to our individual teams. The full force of what this all meant hit me as we exited the room.

They had found Reach.

We would lose hundreds of ships and resources defending it.

They would through everything, kitchen sink included at us.

For better or for worse the Battle of Reach would mark the beginning of the end.

For us or for them.

Either way.

This was going to be bad.

 **And that's the latest Chapter in Halo: Force Recon. Sorry that it has taken me awhile to do all of this. School and bad shit happening to me kinda overloaded my life for a bit. However, I've sorta created a schedule for my writing.**

 **After this chapter I will start writing for my other story. A New World, A New Threat. Then I'll write a chapter for this story so the cliffhangers I always leave you on don't get stale.**

 **Of course though, this was a big one. The Battle of Reach is gonna be tough for both Reeves and myself. I promise to try and capture the true scale of the battle to the best of my ability. I also promise to try and follow the lore and timeline the best I can.**

 **Of course. Some of you are lore nerds and will find something I did wrong. In fact I probably did something wrong when mentioning the timeline in this chapter. As I said, I'll do my best.**

 **As always please send a review telling me what I did wrong, what I did right, how I could do better, or even just that you like the story.**

 **Reviews always make me happy.**

 **I'll write to you all in the next chapter.**


	13. Chapter 13 The Hall of The Mountain King

**Welcome back! After creating 4 chapters for my other story I decided it was time to come back to my roots. Simple as that. Enjoy!**

Chapter 13

The Hall of The Mountain King

"All companies report to combat stations. I repeat, all companies report to combat stations." The automated male voice played over the ships speakers to all of the UNSC inside it. Navy Special Warfare teams rushed to hangars 1 through 4, all while Marine infantry loaded up in almost every available bay possible. Force Recon included-well. Not my team at least. My team was running to the pod bay alongside ONI Ground Ops. 'Hell's waiting room' as the Helljumpers called it.

As we ran through the pod bay doors we could see ODST's all running around and storing weapons or ammo in their pods. They had a different objective than us, but we all had a war to fight. We found our chairs and I called out to my team who were locking their weapons in place. "Don't worry about locking navigational data." They all looked up towards me "The spooks will do that for you." The lights in the bay went yellow. We had less than 60 seconds until the drop came. We all sat down and the automated machinery took over. Sealing the hatch and turning us out towards the planet below. I turned on the feed in the side monitors.

"Alright everyone listen up! Once we land don't worry about trying to find nearby cover. You'll be dead for about 20 seconds before then, pop your doors and rush towards the facility." It wasn't often Force Recon would drop into combat via SOEIV. We usually got flown down and would go from there, but when we needed to get down fast. A drop pod was the best thing we could find. The lights inside began dialing down. Each second passed slowly before the lights inside the capsule changed green.

Martinez bursted over comms in a childlike voice. "Green means go!" I could then see him shooting down towards the planet below. We all chuckled at his humorous behavior before following suit. The pods all launched towards the war below. They automatically pitched up and switched trajectories from the other ODST's falling below.

Sigma popped onto the pod's right hand monitor, and the left hand one lit up with satellite images of the drop zone. "Orbital scanners just painted us a better picture lad's." Sigma's usually subtle accent now was more present. "Our landing won't be as hard as we thought. Nearby forces seem to be on standby outside of the drop zone, we'll roll hard towards the objective. Once we do though, all of them are gonna come crashing down on our 'eads." The image to my left showed what appeared to be a 2 story facility housed inside a canyon. Bear with rock and a few patches of trees every so often. I wasn't so concerned about the landing, just our extraction.

"Sir, 10 clicks off the deck." Sierra informed me over comms. As we passed through orbit, the SOEIV's turned into raging fireballs. We cut through a layer of clouds and looked down at the rocky terrain below. The brown shades mixing in with the sandy color it presented. "60 seconds." Time slowed down to a stand still, didn't matter how many times I did this. The time never seemed to move fast enough.

"30 seconds."

The sound of incoming plasma fire could be faintly heard through the wind screeching by the pods.

"10 seconds!" The plasma fire was getting closer and closer. My ears only focusing on my own breathing as all the noise from the fall ringed in my ears. Breath in, breath out. Focus on everything you could see. The familiar slam of the pods shook my body. I grabbed my rifle from the side rack and waited as the pod then gave a slight beep before the small explosive wave hit me as the door fired off like a bullet. I pushed myself out of my seat and out into the hell we'd dropped into.

We'd dropped into a bit of a circle formation. Breaking up the incoming fire.

My ears still ringed as I failed to hear properly. I looked behind me to see the facility about 110 yards away. A good sprint would do the trick. Sticking to the plan we'd set up I shouted to all of them. Still unable to hear a goddamn thing. "STOP WAITING AROUND LET'S MOVE!" I broke out into a sprint at the facility. The ONI guys and my team followed closely behind. The Covenant must of been surprised by not only the isolated incursion we'd performed, but the sudden action of running in open field.

The enemy sooned shook away the surprise of the bold but incredibly stupid decision. They shifted fire and began leading their shots towards us. With a solid 60 yards to go I called out to Matthews. "BLOW IT" Within the span of seconds the pods we'd used to drop into the mission exploded in a fiery ball of destruction. We all hit the deck as the shrapnel shot across the canyon, using this time as the shooters were distracted, or possibly wounded. We opened fire on any target we could see. "Advance and fire!" We stood up and continued popping round after round as we made it to the facility. As we closed in on it, we could see a hole carved open in its side. The metal melted and some even dripping down to the floor. I didn't need to say a goddamn thing as we made our way there.

We practically threw ourselves through it as enemy fire picked up and chased our feet.

As we made it through I called out to Martinez and Sierra. "Cover that entrance, use your rifles to bottleneck them in the canyon and buy us time. Go up top or use any existing sniper nests if needed. Keep us updated." I wasn't one to micro-manage every aspect of my teams tactics. I trusted them to make the right decisions on their own and do what was best for their assignment. Sierra and Martinez simply nodded and jogged to the the hole we'd come through. The shots began quickly and rang out rapidly.

Speaking of ringing, my ears still were. I took off my helmet and brought up a finger to it while everyone caught their breath. I wiggled my pinky inside my ear to try and do anything at this point. Even contorting my jaw as I did so. The ringing stopped and the world came into full sound.

"You good Reeves?" Called out Sigma who was already pointed down the, extremely ominous, hallway. "Yup, I'm good. Just getting old is all." I practically tossed the helmet back on my head and told the rest of my team to stack up on the side of the hall. Sigma's team took left side, mine took the right. My NVG's stuttered to life as we began walking. Our rifles aimed down the darkness ahead.

I sent a comm-link over internal comms to Sigma. I wanted details now! We'd been so hastily deployed, we didn't get layout or anything. Just an objective, LZ, and extraction. "This base looks to small to be a research facility. Please tell me we're not going underground." He simply sent me an acknowledged signal back. Cheeky fucker. I hated going underground, shit always got messy underground.

We marched further down into the darkness, our NVG's acting as a beacon of clear voyance. As we ventured farther down we noticed more and more plasma burns leaving black bruise like marks on the walls. To compliment the plasma were the bullet holes and chipped off walls. We walked over the bodies of ONI security. Their black uniforms blending in with their tomb.

That's when we heard the sound of something wet being sloshed around from around a corner. Along with the newfound noise was the chicken like responses of the most annoying Covenant species. Jackals, They were absolute asses to deal with as snipers and their retarded half brothers, skirmishers, just made you waste ammo with their speed. We stood still and shared a nod between all of us. Quick and quiet.

We rounded the corner to see a Jackal bent over on all 4's devouring the inners of a science. His white lab coat covered with his own blood and the horrified look still plastered over his face like a picture. I'd seen enough already. I crouched down and drew my combat knife, we didn't bring suppressors, mainly because we expected any enemies inside the base to already be alerted to our presence. Guess it was snack time when we landed.

I wrapped my hand under the bastards beak like mouth. Using that hand to force its jaw shut so it couldn't call for help. It squirmed and writhed like a trapped animal for less than a second, the scientists intestines still hanging from it's mouth like a stray piece of spaghetti. The Task Force walked around me as I plunged the knife into the vermons throat. As I cut a wavy line across it's neck the purple blood spewed out violently and suddenly. It shook for a few seconds as the eyes on the side of it's head rolled back before his body followed suit. Going limp as I let his corpse drop to the floor.

I cleaned my balde before sticking it back into the sheath on the left side strap of my chestplate. I pulled my rifle up to my shoulder and headed up the rear of my team.

"This should be it. Load up." Sigma called out on comms. In front of us was an extremely large elevator shaft, with an even bigger lift to compliment it. We moved onto it, moving the many bodies on it to the side. As Sigma's second in command, Spectre, hit the button sending us down I got a strange hunch.

"What were they keeping down there Sigma?" He looked over his shoulder from under his Recon helmet. "Everything you've been told, schematics and R&D data on an experimental weapon." I looked at him for a few seconds. Trying to comprehend the exponential bullshit coming out of his mouth. "You install a lift the size of a Scorpion to hand off just data Sigma… Cut the bullshit give me a target and we'll be done a lot sooner." he sighed over comms before turning fully to me. "Target is an experimental weapon yes, what you don't know is that the weapon is also a WMD. Looks sorta like a slipspace drive. That's all you need to know." He turned back towards the lifts entrance as I nodded from behind.

The light blinks 3 times, indicating that we were reaching the bottom floor. We all transitioned into stable firing stances and waited for the door to open. The lift came to a screaming stop. The metal sliding down to the bottom in an ugly fashion. The doors slid open and we could see Elites, Jackals, and Grunts standing around, completely unaware of the threat behind them. A single Elite stood out though, His armor was white with a helmet that covered his face completely. An ultra I thought. Hadn't seen one of them in a while. He carried a red plasma repeater in his hands and energy sword on his hip. He barked command after command at Grunts running around the room, in his alien language.

I didn't have to say anything at all, in complete unison our weapons unleashed bullet after bullet at our enemy. The were caught by surprise and attempted to raise their weapons in retaliation. Only to be gunned down as their blood splattered over the already blood painted walls. The Elites had more than enough time to react and fall back to cover. The Jackals and Grunts though, not so lucky. We pushed further into the room, fanning out and killing 3 more Elites. The remaining few fell back even further into the lab, we swapped in new mags and proceeded down after them. On our way in we must of triggered something. I was guessing at least because the lab was now doing it's best impression of a nightclub rave as the lights flared in and out of focus and flashed to their heart's content. Alongside that, alarms were ringing and in the echoey environment it was only worse. Finally, as some sorta decontamination failsafe, air was being shot out of vents in white streams.

"They must of tripped something in the system, the lab is undergoing emergency procedures!" Sigma called out from my left. I could faintly see him in the smoke and strobe lights. "No shit!" I pushed further down and decided that it may be time to get creative. Next to me whas a breaker panel with elegant labels telling me what each switch was connected too. Elites were trickly fuckers that would massacre us if we couldn't tip the playing fields. "Everyone switch to thermals" I ordered, before returning to the panel. "There's to much shit I can't fucking see." This time it was Kerry questioning the order. I stayed quiet as I went to work.

This was a lab which meant all the systems were fast acting. If they wanted to hide in smoke, let 'em. I'm sure that the cold would force them out though. I used the panel to turn off the heating in the room, with all the air rushing in the temperature dropped like a boulder. "Reeves what are you doing?" Was Wraith's first questions.

"The cold will make it easier to spot them with thermals with all the smoke about. Just roll with it." I didn't need to explain it, they'd get the point sooner or later. We moved in 2 man teams throughout the floor, of course I somehow ended up being the odd one out all alone, as they did so I heard 6 gunshots. "Major down." It was Deruld over comms. 2 left. The quiet was deafening as we all felt the tension. They could be anywhere at this moment. That's why I hated them.

9 shots rang out this time. I heard a loud thump from across the room. I couldn't see where though, the lab was sectioned off by walls and working stations surrounded by glass. 1 left… I knew where this was going.

The smoke plumed more and more as I continued down the central path. I could feel it though. A sense I'd built up over the years, I was being hunted. He wouldn't sneak up on me though, my thermals gave me clear vision. He had nowhere to hide.

That's when I heard the all too familiar pop and crackle of an energy sword behind me. The light blue glow reflecting off the glass around me and off the shiny white walls. I did a full 180 and leveled my rifle. As I took aim, all I saw was an 8 foot monster charging me. His form clearly made out with thermals. I popped a 6 round burst off quickly to no avail. Flashbacks of my time with Kilo company back up on that mountain on my first OP raced through my mind. So I decided why the hell not. When a running back charges a linebacker, the linebacker needs to charge him back to make the stop. Acting purely on instinct I ran forwards and dove into the gut of the Ultra. The sudden act catching it off guard.

"SHIT!" I yelled out as we both tumbled to the floor. We rolled around for a second before I ended up on my back. The Ultra raised its hand up in a fist as an energy dagger formed over it's hand. He went to slam the blade down into my stomach but before he could I used my legs as collateral, rolling onto my shoulders and sticking one boot on his chest and another on his throat. Pulling my SOCOM out from my hip holster I was intent on driving it into its throat. As I brought it up the Ultra grabbed my wrist stopping the motion in its tracks. With one hand holding an energy dagger, closing in on my neck, and another slowly breaking my wrist I was running out of options. As the dagger started pressing closer and closer to my neck I could hear the muffled laughs of the beast under the helmet it wore.

I could also faintly hear the sounds of rushed footsteps coming towards me. Not quick enough.

With my life on the line I did the only thing that made sense. I smashed my helmet into his. The force of the impact causing him to stutter back slightly while still pinning me to the ground. The hand holding my SOCOM went free as he covered his face in pain. As he quickly regained balance he pushed the blade deeper towards. I realigned the sights of the gun to the Ultra's forearm. Firing 4 quick shots in rapid succession. The pain of the bullets caused his hand to shoot back, slicing part of my chest piece on the surface. His shield was nearly popped, it flared and gloweed unstabally around him. Another 3 shots should do it. I crawled backwards while firing each shot into his helmet. I fired 3 shots rapidly and his shield popped with a satisfying release of energy. I took aim at his head to make the killshot. That's when I heard it.

The click.

I turned my weapon and checked it. I wasn't empty… I was fucking JAMMED!

I attempted to do a tap and rack only for the Ultra to dive at me once more. I rolled to my right and watched as the Elite hit the floor, rising to all 4's I jumped on him. As the Elite flayelled its arms around I slammed my elbow into its face. The pads I wore making the blow less painful. Drawing my knife from my left strap I then plunged it deep in the things jugular. It tusselled in pain as I could hear the gurgled screams of pain under the helmet it wore. Eventually it's limbs went still as it's head fell to the ground lifeless. I pulled the blade back out slowly, savoring the moment. Cleaned it off and slipped it back in the sheath. I then pulled my handgun to my side and properly conducted a tap and rack clearing procedure. Unjamming it.

I looked up to see all of Onyx and the ONI Ground Ops gawking at me in either horror or amazement. I simply stood up and began walking down the lab to the objective as I spoke a single statement. "Still got it."

We made our way to the main research lab and found a single room at the end of the facility. It was about the size of the briefing room and was guarded by a set of twin doors. Half of our team secured our exit while the other half prepared to enter. Cooper was the pointman, behind him was me, and behind me was Wraith and Sigma. I placed one hand on the back of Coopers leg and gave a slow controlled squeeze. He waited about a second before he pushed into the room. The door was kicked open as all 4 of us entered the room. Scanning our sectors and spreading out; in the center of the room was a large cylinder like object with wires running along its side and a blinking control panel. True to Sigma's word the weapon did indeed look like a slipspace drive. What was freaking me out though was the fact that it was shaking violently.

"Shit, Wraith get on it. Reeves, Cooper, start pulling data. We'll handle the weapon." Sigma then ran off towards the WMD and started pulling of sheets of metal to look at it's insides. All while Wraith was tapping commands in on the controls.

I pointed at a terminal on the other end of the room and Cooper ran over and began pulling data. Due to the 'ideal' conditions of our mission we were able to extract rather than destroy. I pulled out a drive from my utility pouch and slammed it into the side of the terminal as it started a file download. The display shot to 15% instantly. That's when I used the waiting time the download provided to contact our exit team. "Martinez, you're being awfully for once?" A long dead silence ensued before the screaming static filled the air waves. "Multip-*static*-Falling bac-*Static* Assistance needed!" I didn't hear the full message as the feed went dead. I didn't feel like waiting around to find out though.

"Sigma you'll have to pull the data yourselves. Drives are already downloading now, Onyx our exit is compromised let's go!" I didn't want to hear Sigma's reply. I simply ran out of the room and down towards the lift, my team followed behind closely. As we loaded onto the lift I slammed my fist on the 1st floor. Why hadn't I gotten a signal? UNSC comms would of worked this far under. We weren't being jammed as my link to CENTCOM was still online. These mission always got worse and worse.

The lift came to a grinding halt and the gates opened slowly. We contrasted the speed of the lift with our own. Sprinting through the halls of the battered and destroyed base. Nearly slipping on the pools of blood spread across the ground. The once muffled sounds of a firefight now raced around the corridors like a hurricane wind. "We're here what's your location!" I practically slid around a corner and ran down the same hallway that we went down from the wall breach.

"Glad you could join us sir, Sierra and I fell back to the sniper nests on the top floor! We're starting to run thin on ammo and we're getting pinned down some support would be nice!" I simply grunted in response over comms as we reached our entry point. I took a knee at the hole cut in the wall and told Kerry to do so as well. "Cooper take the rest of the team and spread them out in defensive positions, I'm calling in the thunder!" Kerry raised his rifle and began firing round after round at the horde of enemies being funneled through the small canyon we'd landed in. On the either sided we could see infantry pouring over and snipers lining the crests. We didn't even have enough bullets to kill half of these fuckers.

"Command this is Onyx actual, requesting immediate fire support on grid square Papa Oscar 1778790. Anything West of the base is confirmed hostile, danger close!" I popped out from cover and fired 3 rounds at 3 shield jackals trying to advance forward. All 3 of them dropped to the ground which left those behind them in the line of fire. The sounds of repeated fire from an LMG further down the line could be heard as anything 50 yards out was cut into pieces. Deruld must be having a field day.

The slight smile on my face evaporated as 2 Ghosts broke out of the mob in front of us and began charging our position. Worst off, A pair of 2 Wraiths were placing themselves on either side of the Canyon. Effectively boxing us inside like fish in a barrel.

"Command I need a fucking response now! We've got enemy vehicles and armor closing in on our position!" The first Ghost began unloading everything it had at me. Slamming my back into cover. Kerry did the same as a stream of plasma flew through the hole in the wall putting us out of the fight. "Solid copy Onyx actual, nearby artillery units are being notified. 6 rounds in effect, 65 seconds to splash." The plasma fire halted for only a moment as I leaned out and tossed a grenade at the Ghost, causing it to veer away giving me a shot at the driver. I popped 4 rounds at the Grunt maneuvering the vehicle, the first 2 hit the controls and the last 2 nailed him in the side of the head.

"Much obliged Command, status on extraction!?" I fell back into cover as a Beam rifle bolt landed just inches away from my head. "We've already got Viking 1-1 on standby for extraction. However, the original LZ is too hot so we'll be using LZ Bravo for extraction. He'll be wheels on the deck in 15 minutes, this is a tight window to work with so be there or walk your asses out." Goddamnit. I switched frequencies and relayed the information to Onyx.

"Alright we've got less than 60 seconds until the thunder hits sit tight!" I mentally counted down the seconds at the enemy advanced further and further. Deruld's SAW still firing constantly at any who dared break out of formation. 20 seconds. The Wraiths began raining down Plasma closer and closer, scaring the rock and dirt black. 10 seconds. The horde of Covenant were now within 50 yards, each one unloading absolutely everything they had. To the point that the wall my back was pinned against began heating up.

Splash.

The was about a 3 second delay.

However, given the results, I'd say our patience paid off.

I could hear as the shells creating a loud whistling as they ripped apart the air around them. The 1st shell landed in the middle of the ground, sending dust and rock up in the air alongside the now detached limbs of the unlucky bastard it hit. The shockwave knocking over the infantry up front as well. The shrieking of the shells sent chills through my body before the inevitable and dominating BOOM. The 2nd shell struck dangerously close to us, absolutely eviscerating the closest hostiles to us. All while knocking us on our asses. The 3rd and 4th shell struck in at the same time near the sides of the Canyon. Causing the sides to crumble, Jackal snipers and supporting elements fell into the killzone alongside their armour. The 5th and 6th shells cleaned up the mess they had made and struck in the dead center of the group that had fallen in. Destroying the Wraiths, neutralizing the snipers, and giving us front row seats.

As the dust settled and what once was an enemy Battalion was now nothing but piles of bodies, scattered limbs, and puddles of goo. A small sigh of relief went through everyone as I could here Matthews and Martinez shouting out in excitement. Kerry sooned joined in as I simply leaned back against the wall. Letting my head rest against it as well. "Good effect on target, give those gun crews my compliments will yeah?" I could hear the radio operator chuckles as his voice came back on all our frequencies. "Uhhhhhh, solic copy there Reeves. We're diverting extraction back to the primary LZ. Good work." At the same moment Sigma and his team walked up behind me. Looking out at the destruction ahead before he nodded. "You've been busy." I simply chuckled and started walking out into the cratered field in front of us. "Alright everyone let's secure that LZ and mop up anyone that's left."

I popped orange smoke as we all walked out of the base and searched the fields for any survivors. Martinez walked up to an Elite who was pinned under the front half of a Wraith. He drew his combat knife and gripped his freehand tightly around the things head. Slowly drawing the knife closer. I raised my rifle to kill the poor bastard before he had his way. I finger paused on the trigger, I saw the knife inch closer and closer. The warrior looked at me with almost fear in his eyes, practically begging me to end it. My head turned away and I kept walking forward. The last thing I heard was the muffled roar of it as I took aim at a grunt crawling towards me. I stabbed the barrel into it's skull and pulled the trigger once. The force of the bullet pushing it's head down into the ground.

Scattered multicolored blood painted the dirt like a childs painting. The flaming wrecks shooting up purple and blue flames. I looked up in the sky as the Pelican soared down towards us below. Breaking the cloud layer. "Aye Reeves, thought you said extraction would be here in 15 minutes?" I checked my watch. He was right, barely 4 minutes had passed. "Dunno, guess we'll find out." I slung my rifle to my hip and walked into an clearing in the ruble. Bringing my arms up and waving them slowly back and forth. The Pelican circled us for less than a minute before it shifted into VTOL. Lowering itself onto the dirt and shutting off the engines. Why the hell would they shut off the engine?

We gathered at the tailgate as it slowly opened. As I squinted my eyes and peered through the visible cracks I could see something.

Or in this case someone.

A lot of someone's actually.

The doors opened fully as a full chalk of Marines unloaded and began setting up a perimeter. The fuck?

"Good work gentleman on securing the site, you'll be taking orders from me now on!" A middle aged man with a white mustaches sauntered out of the aircraft and stood in front of us. He wore a Marine BDU and a pin with an eagle, it's wings spread out. On his right side a tag, McClellin. I crossed my arms tilted my head. "This is our bird out Colonel, why the hell do we have Marines down here?" His eyes shot open in a dramatic expression of shock. "You mean central command didn't inform you? This area is now being turned into a staging point for all operation inland. You'll be down here a while." I could feel the disgust come from my men around me. I held a hand out to tell them to be quiet. Then gestured to Sigma to hand over the data, he did as he was told and the Colonel nodded before climbing back aboard the Pelican and handing it off to one of his XO's I assumed. He jumped back down and walked right past us as the aircraft took off.

We stood there confused as all hell. Even the ONI guys looked bewildered.

That's when 4 more Pelicans broke the cloud layer, whatever command didn't tell us. It didn't matter now, something told me this was going to be a very long day.

 **Right, so another chapter that I decided to fill with some action to pad out the last one. These next few are gonna show off Onyx team in a little more isolated events. We'll also get to see them do actual recon for once.**

 **Not much to say on this one other than the fact that I may be diving into Wattpad, just maybe I don't know.**

 **Please leave reviews and criticisms it's the only way I can become better.**

 **I'll write to you all in the next chapter.**


	14. Chapter 14 A Step Too Far

**Welcome back! I know I leave you guys hanging a lot but the reception for my other story has simply been astronomic.**

Chapter 14

A Step Too Far

"Target designation… Sierra, Oscar, X-ray. Heavy infantry and armor movement through grid square 1094828." That's the 12th group in less than a mile, the Covenant were not fucking around. Martinez and Sierra lay face down in the dirt, their reactive camouflage blending them into the foliage around them. The rest of the team sat in a small dug out trench just near the crest of a hill. The treeline only extending a stone's throw away from us.

Jones relayed the information from Martinez through a small comms setup he had placed down only an hour prior. It didn't take long for the Covenant battlenet to get whiff of our little stunt back at the newly established FOB Olympus. I took a puff of my cigar and tried to enjoy the soothing sense it embellished. All before stubbing it in the dirt and moving to my feet.

In a low crouch I approached Jones and took hold of the radio. My team had been on standby to conduct a small raid on an enemy supply depot for almost 30 minutes now. From the looks of it, they weren't planning on sticking around for much longer. Grunts were packing up methane tanks into transports, the lower classes of the Covenant hierarchy scrambled around to move crates all while Elites barked orders.

"Olympus I need confirmation, my team is on site and ready to raid the enemy supply depot. Our window is closing fast." We'd already devised a plan. The place wasn't exactly heavily fortified, small barriers and barricades were scattered around tanks of fuel and crates of supplies. Most of which was out in the open, easy targets for snipers. To be quite honest I'd just have my team engage from our post. They were maybe 200 meters away at best.

"Uhhh, hold on Onyx." The radio operator was clearly new, he stuttered his words and took ages to respond. After what felt like an eternity he came back on. "Affirmative Onyx, you have the greenlight. Report back in once you're done." Everyone began pulling themselves up to their feet and moving into firing positions. "Loud and clear Olympus, Onyx out." I positioned myself onto the trench firing step and rested my rifle over the edge. "Pick your targets guys." I took aim at a set of battery crates near a fuel tank in the center of the depot. As I dialed my optic in I announced my targets. "Set." I waited for my team to reply, as each one found their targets my breathes became slower and slower. "Set. Set. Set." As I held my breath and counted out each moment between breathes I gave the order. "Weapons free."

Our rounds sailed through the air and struck each target with uncanny precision. Mine included, the bullet ruptured the battery crate and exploded in a purple fiery. The plasma batteries near it, causing a chain reaction that led down all the way to the fuel tank. I lowered my rifle and began moving from person to person. Calling out targets and making sure everyone was doing their job. "Hey, shift over and hit those fuckers next to the group of Ghost's." I shouted to Deruld, he layed in the prone position. Letting his LMG let loose from a stable stance, the tracers flew through the air and began striking down targets in rapid succession.

Within less than a minute the firefight was over. All that remained of the depot was a section of charred, muddy, wreckage in an open field. Half an hour for nearly a minute, that's how things worked out here. I walked over to the comms unit and signalled for the FOB. "Onyx actual to Olympus, target destroyed. Awaiting further orders." I kneeled next to the device in a dirty trench for a minute. I don't even know why they had us pulling recon, we dropped a base right in the middle of enemy territory. No point in trying to expand operations if we'd be under constant attack.

No reply.

I kicked the damned thing hoping it would come to its senses. Only more static. "Olympus…?" Still no answer. I had just about had it today with this shit. Absolutely nothing was going our way, not to mention the fact Reach was being invaded. That's a big part of it. "Jones, get your ass over here and fix this shit, I need comms with command!" I crawled out of the trench and stood over my men. All of which were now sitting in a relaxed position.

We'd hauled our asses 3 kilometers from the FOB and now we couldn't even talk to them. Deciding to be proactive I figured we'd be sent to a different location soon, might as well start cleaning up. "Alright… Everyone grab your shit, we're getting ready to move." They all stood up and began grabbing food packaging, ammo, or any other supplies left out in the trench. It wasn't a permanent observation post, but I'd expect to be here for at least a day. With increased enemy activity though… Wouldn't be surprised if my team was dispatched to take care of something.

I removed my helmet and ran a hand through my hair, or what little I even had. "Jones status?" I hadn't even turned around, I was still facing the field we'd shot up. I was so caught up in my thoughts I had failed to realize Jones hadn't answered. "Jones?" I turned around and looked him dead in the face. His only response was to look up and shrug his shoulders. "What is it?" I inquired, that radio was child's play for him. Why was he acting like this was his first time with a computer?

"Things not busted sir. Something on their end." What? I hopped back down into the sloppy pit and squatted down beside it. "Olympus come in…. Olympus!?" A mental clock was going off in my head. _Tick tick tick tick tick_. Something was very wrong. The sound and sight of a massive explosion south of our location caught our attention. Only one place that could've come from.

"Onyx pack it up, we're moving back to Olympus, we've lost contact with them." My team shot into action, moving at twice the pace and ready to go within seconds. Martinez and Cooper had massive rucksacks on their backs, all while Jones carried the comms equipment. We'd have the haul ass to get back there in time, no doubt an assault was taking place. With all the activity coming in we'd be best to not run into ant enemy reinforcements. Which meant we'd have to cut through a lot of roads to save time, without getting spotted I might add. Odds were never in our favor to begin with.

As we ran back towards the base we linked up with other recon teams doing the same. Looked like everyone with a gun was coming out to play. _Tick tick tick tick tick_. That mental clock was going off in my head, we were running out of time. As we neared the ridges surrounding the base, the very same ones that at one point were littered with enemy snipers, I told Cooper and Martinez to drop their rucks. The sound of gunfire was already loud enough from more than 2 kilometers away, I adjusted the sling on my rifle as we inched up the crest of the ridge. "Keep your spacing, watch your fire. Our guys probably don't even know we're here." Our heads came over the ridgeline as we spotted 2 Jackals in sniping positions above an avalanche of Covenant forces assaulting the FOB. I gestured fro Martinez and Sierra to replace these guys nice and quiet like.

Martinez pulled his knife on the first one, inserting it directly into the side of it's bird-like head. With one clean stab and pull the Jackal fell to the ground instantly, Sierra simply jammed the barrel of her SOCOM into its eye and pulled the trigger. The muffled shot sailed through one side of it's skull and out the other, spewing chunks of purple brains across the dirt. "Your 2 setup here, Martinez and any heavy weapons specialists here get your weapons ready. Hold fire for now." Within seconds LMG's, grenade launchers, and any other type of heavy weaponry appeared from each recon team. Once the shooting started I wouldn't have to say much, I set up the play and they ran it. That's the way it should work.

"Everybody ready?" We all laid face down on the ridgeline, looming over the enemy like a dark shadow. Every man gave a nod and I looked down the scope of my rifle, setting my sights on a Brute chieftain who was firing a plasma turret with his bare hands. "Okay… Weapons free!"

6 grenades were fired down into the group below, 3 LMG's began spewing lead like a garden hose of death, and 24 recon Marines fired each shot with the intent to kill. The unsuspecting group beneath them was torn, shredded, and picked apart. Each explosion flung bodies across the battlefield into craters of blood and guts. The sustained fire of a SAW chewed apart any in its path of destruction with little effort. Any who survived the initial violent attack were picked off by our marksman, their bodies pierced and killed with expert precision. Another short firefight. More kills to rack up in the books.

"Alright, I want Saber to handle the west wing, Metal to the East, Onyx on me we're taking the North." Each team team rushed off in the designated direction as Onyx got ready to follow. "Sierra, Martinez, you both know what to do." Not much needed to be said there. We slid down the steeply angled ridge and into the battle below. The bodies of those we'd killed littered around us like garbage. I popped a few that were still clinging to life as we made our way to the North side of the FOB, we'd have to pull a quick flank or else we'd just be surrounded and overrun.

We approached the main assault force from the reer, using destroyed Covenant vehicles for concealment. We had to be careful, our MG's didn't seem too worried about target recognition before pulling the trigger. Not to mention the mortar blasts going off on advancing troops, not like any of it was working though. The enemy still marched forward and battered Olympus' walls. I had Deruld and Matthews set up a ways back if shit hit the fan, right now I had one goal in mind. Neutralize their armor, at least I hoped so, Wraiths were pounding the walls and making it extremely difficult for our guys to mount a proper defense. As long as they were in play, we weren't going to wing this one.

"Cooper, take Jones and destroy those 2 on the Eastern side." He nodded before they began sneaking off towards the Wraiths dropping plasma over the FOB. "Kerry, you're with me." Kerry looked distracted for the time being as he gazed at the battle ahead, before nodding in approval. With each target designated, I made the first move. Sprinting across the scarred ground and sliding into cover behind a scorched Ghost I lay on my side. The rifle in my hands aimed down towards the enemy. "Set." I shouted from my position, I wasn't worried about them hearing us. The sounds of battle would deafen them enough. He checked the enemies ahead one last time before breaking into a sprint. "Bounding!" We snuck up on the Wraiths, both were firing an unrelenting hate onto friendly positions. A pair of Jackals stood beside both of them, all while the plasma gunners leaned on their weapons. Watching the massacre of my comrades as if it were entertainment.

I jerked my head towards the Jackals and made a slicing motion across my neck. Kerry obliged and drew his blade from the side of his belt. We approached the the pair silently, our footsteps being muffled out by the sounds of the cannons. As I inched closer I could see Kerry's man catch sight of me in it's bird like peripherals. It motioned for its rifle, only for it's lanky legs to be kicked out from under it and a knife driven into its jugular. I wrapped my forearms around my guys throat and squeezed it's vocal cords shut violently and suddenly. Kicking the back of one of its legs out and pressing the knife deep into its throat, the Jackal squirmed for only a moment before going limp. We dragged the bodies out of sight and crouched behind the very active Wraith.

"How we gonna do this, we've only got one grenade?" I hadn't restocked on explosives since we dropped and Kerry had only a single frag left. My initial plan had relied on him at least having 2, simply shove them into the exhaust chambers in the back and all's good. "Yeah… New plan…" I stretched out vocally. This might work, I highly doubted it though. Out of options and with only a few seconds before that gunner realized we were here, we made a hail mary pass. I told Kerry to cover my six as I slowly climbed the side wings of the vehicle, placing myself just behind the gunner. Lucky for me the poor guy was a Grunt, this would be easy. Drawing my SOCOM I fired a single suppressed round through the fuckers skull. His body immediately going lifeless and laying over the plasma turret. Blood dripping onto the tank.

Once the gunner was dead, Kerry joined my ontop, the cannon still firing onto our men. We positioned ourselves over the driver hatch and aimed our weapons downwards. I bent over and slammed my fist onto it 3 times for emphasis, this probably wasn't gonna work but we had to try something. We waited a few seconds, our grips on our weapons tight as ever. The hatch slowly opened and an Elite minor popped it's head out in confusion to the noise. _Morning sunshine_ , I thought internally, we both fired a single round into the Elites skull, blasting it's brains all over the controls. I smirked under my helmet and took hold of the massive creature, Kerry and I both heaved to get the thing out of the cockpit. Eventually however, we tossed it over the side. I jumped into the driver seat and began inputting commands, I'd had my fair share of hijackings in the past but never a Wraith, maybe a Ghost if I was lucky. "Kerry I need you in the gunner seat, call targets as you see 'em." He nodded from above me and pulled the dead Grunt out of the gunner position.

As the cockpit closed and a gained full control of the massive metal behemoth I was in I began yawing the Wraith to its left. As I tapped the holographic console, the cannon came online and I aligned it with Wraith number 2. "Lights out you son 'ofa bitch." I fired a plasma mortar directly at the other Wraith, and as it began to turn to react the massive blue ball of death slammed into its front. When the smoke cleared only a charred and molten hole was left where the once terrifying face of the beast once was. Despite the egregious wound it had suffered the pilot was still alive and the cannon revved up for a shot. Yanking the sticks to the right we side strafed out of the way, only for it to charge us and bash us into a deadlock. The heads of our tanks ramming together like bulls.

"He's too close for the cannon, it's on you Kerry!" I pushed the engine into overdrive as to not get trampled by the machine. "Shoot the fucking pilot Kerry he's exposed!" Our vehicles rocked back and forth as I was ragdolled inside it, didn't these guys have seatbelts? "KERRY!" The Elite on the other end let out a war cry before smashing into us once again, rocking my head back into the seat and disorientating me. Even with the helmet on. "Working on it sir!" Oh well at least he's fucking trying!? I pressed the throttle all the way and used as much energy possible without blowing the engine out… I assumed. Despite my best efforts it was clear who the better pilot was.

That's when a single shot, louder than anything going on, rang through the hills. The pilot sagged over his controls and I sent my Wraith full steam ahead into its face. Ramming into it at top speed and plowing it onto its side, before it's one exhaust chamber ruptured and took the wreckage to oblivion. "Fuck… Hell of a time to show up Kerry, we took some scratches but we're still operational." I turned to the side and began adjusting the plasma mortar, but since I couldn't actually read any of the controls, this is where Kerry came in. "Okay, Kerry, I need you to start calling out targets for me. I can make the adjustments but YOU have to guide me, just a bunch of squiggly lines down here." There was a pause of silence before an audible sigh came through. "O-Okay, I got it." I took a breath in and began waiting for firing commands.

"Large group, shift 30 degrees left, 300 meters out." I made the adjustments and prepped the shot, these bastards wouldn't know what hit 'em.

"Firing!"

A single plasma mortar fired through the air for what felt like an eternity, each second suspending the anxiety and suspense of the shot even further. As it began dropping and the few seconds before the impact hung in the moment I smiled. The strike came and a large group of Covenant were turned into slag, flung in the air, or torn to bits. "Good effect on target, shift right 45 degrees, 350 meters out, danger close to friendlies." Making the adjustments I fired once again. The shot coming down much quicker in my mind and sending another large group of enemies sailing through the air. I chuckled, I usually wasn't one to particular take joy in my work, my work being that of killing, but today had been a stressful day. The last few days even more so. I was trained to kill afterall, so why not enjoy my sole purpose in life right now?

We continued the barrage of hellfire until the Covenant was forced to acknowledge us, their forces split and a section of infantry began rushing our position. Kerry began spewing a hose of plasma from the turret he was operating. Without him guiding my aim, every shot was more of an educated guess than a calculated trigger pull. As enemy forces closed in on our position I attempted to re-adjust the cannon so that it could be used to stop the advance. Only for a round from a plasma launcher to stick to the side of the Wraith. The shockwave knocked me around the inside like a ragdoll, only for 3 more rounds to stick to the wings of the vehicle and the main weapon. The blast only disorientating me further, as I came to the lights of the cockpit flashed red as large text appeared on the consoles. I couldn't read any of it of course but I got the message. About 2 platoons were within 50 meters of us, seeing no way out I did the sensible thing.

"Kerry, get the fuck out and RUN!" I removed my helmet and brought up the blood soaked gloves on my hands to my face. My forehead and temple were bleeding, along with my mouth. Laying the Gungnir helmet on my lap and checking to see if I could still move the clunky piece of metal I could hear Kerry's confused voice. "W-what… Why?" I clenched my hands into a fist and slammed them on the controls in a bullshit effort to get them working again. "DAMMIT JUST FUCKING DO IT!" A simple 'yes sir' was all i got in return.

As the platoons crested the ridgeline to surround me I revved the Wraiths engines up, or at least whatever made this thing run. Without a turret gunner and the main weapon destroyed my only option for offense was good old fashioned roadkill. The lights continued to flare inside the cockpit, the red and purple glow shining off my sweat covered face. I grit my teeth and waited anxiously for the first sign of the enemy.

As I saw squads of infantry peek over the ridge the signals in my brain lit up.

Pushing the tank to full speed and shoving the throttles forward with reckless abandon.

The Wraith charged forward and plowed through the first 6 enemies, each one being plastered over the front like bugs on a highway. As I soured over the edge and came down with a loud clang I veered the vehicle back towards them. Still in shock the Elites, Jackals, and Grunts all scrambled out of the way, only to be run over once again by the might of their own steel. Another blast came from the back of the Wraith and knocked me forward in my seat, I grunted loudly like a wild animal as the lights began flashing even brighter.

The Wraith began sputtering and slowing down like an old truck, I swung it around once again and faced the 3 squads left, 2 of which were carrying heavy weapons. Throwing my life aside and rushing in a full frontal assault I must of caught them off guard, because instead of standing their ground and blowing me to bits. They scrambled once again, the same results came, I ran them over mercilessly. Each one being crushed beneath the metal of my tank. MY tank, this thing was mine now. I could feel myself beginning to lose it.

Only a platoon was left, still attacking the FOB. Deciding to hit fuck it I charged forward, the Wraith sputtered and whined mechanically. They must of ruptured the exhaust chambers because the cockpit began heating up extremely, my own sweat and blood entered my mouth, it almost tasted sweet. The last platoon only noticed me seconds before I crushed them, I barreled through destroyed vehicle after destroyed wreck and so on. Eventually making my way to them, by then I was much slower but still a threat nonetheless. They fired and hacked away at my armor with their weapons, parts of the Wraith began exploding and being blown off until I could hardly control where I was going. An intense ringing- no, screaming was filling my head. Like someone was straining a string on an electric guitar, I plowed through each one until eventually a final explosion took the Wraith out of commision.

I came to a sudden stop, to exhausted to even try and escape the flaming pile of wreckage, the hatch being the only thing guarding me from death. All the lights had gone out and I was in complete darkness, until cracks of light came from the hatch as the Covies I hadn't run over slammed on it repeatedly. The heat of the cockpit was now gone, just a numbness of the adrenaline leaving. The hatch opened more and more with each strike, until the sun coming through was blinding.

Eventually a 3-fingered hand came through the cracks and ripped off the hatch, above me stood and Elite major, his plasma rifle aimed down at me and a cackling laugh echoing in the cockpit. I shook my head and made the ' _c'mon'_ motion with my hands, I didn't close my eyes. I simply stared it down and waited for the blast of plasma to end me.

Only for the Elites purple blood to be blow out through its front and onto my face, more specifically my mouth. I wiped the blood from my eyes and spit out the very tangy blood from my lips. The Elites body fell backwards and a single sniper shot echoed in the hilltops. I sighed and laid back, my body still too fucked up to move. I just barely reached for my helmet and placed it near my head, I could hear the voice of someone over its comms. "Did you really think I was gonna let a MAJOR grease you?" It was Martinez, I laughed before replying. "Bullshit Martinez, I know Sierra made the shot…" He only laughed in return before responding. "Yeah but I was the one who spotted him so…" I coughed out an unhealthy amount of blood and attempted to pick myself up. Only to fall back into the seat. "Yeah… Well I need a hand down here."

It wasn't long before the Marines defending the base found me and pulled my out, they dragged me back inside and had a medic on me in minutes. The rest was sorta a blur, we'd warded off the attack but had lost a lot in the process. According to the doc I had only suffered "minor injuries, but severe fatigue and exhaustion." whatever the hell that meant. As of right now though? I'd been cleared and was grabbing more rounds and supplies with my team. At least I was going too until the Colonel called us to the landing pads. We were all split up throughout the base and met up at the pads.

Something was off, very off. After an attack like that we'd already be out there, doing recon or scouting out possible counter-attacks. Whatever he'd pulled us here for, it wasn't good. "About time Onyx, I was beginning to think you'd all died?" The Colonel's smug grin was plenty reason enough to realize that whatever he had in store was full of shit. "Cut to the chase already, we've got a war to fight." The Colonel's face contorted slightly. Like a mixture of confusion and nervousness. "Truth be told son, all I know is that you're supposed to be here when they arrive. That's all." He pushed past us and began making his way back into the base. "They? What are you talking about?" My helmet was still clipped to my side and my, barely regulation, hair lay flat. I ran a hand through it as I awaited a response. He simply continued walking. "I got a war to fight son, you'll figure it out."

Cheeky fucker.

I turned around to the sound of engines roaring, the shear force of it became too strong that I had hold me head down. A Pelican landed in the middle of the pad and the engines remained on, as the ramp lowered a single silhouette approached from inside. A young looking Naval officer in all black uniform, I exchanged a look with my team that said it all.

ONI.

We walked up to the ramp where I shook hands with the officer. "You called!?" I shouted over the sound of the Pelican. "I need your team to come with me, you'll be briefed once you're aboard!" I shrugged my shoulders and looked at my teammates, looks like things just got a whole lot more interesting. As we boarded the Pelican, I could see the, still unnamed, officer check his datapad. Whatever he was looking at seemed to cause him some distress, hopefully the ride wouldn't be a long one. We found our seats and the Pelican began lifting above the FOB, as it did so the remains of the attack laid out before us like a painting. Wrecked vehicles, cratered ground, and strung out bodies covered the dirt canvas. As the Pelican ascended above the clouds the ramp closed and the force of it pushing through the atmosphere rattled us until we'd broken orbit.

"Mind telling us why we're here now?" I asked, my face snarling with anger. His only response was a hand motion for me to calm down and a not-so-reassuring smile. "Be patient, all will be explained." My team scanned the cabin nervously, they all knew what that meant. How couldn't they… Reach was burning and the brass still hid behind a mask.

It wasn't long before we landed on a Gorgon class heavy Destroyer, it was deep within a UNSC fleet. One of many surrounding the planet, with probably more to come, I hope. The bird landed with a thud as the wheels hit metal and the tailgate dropped, we quickly made our way out of it and towards wherever the officer was taking us. I listened in to the crowds around me and heard whispers of another Covenant siege on a city named New Alexandria. Looks like they were going all in. I could practically feel the dread in the halls, but something just kept gnawing at me. It felt like I was being watched… By everyone.

"Here we go gentleman." The officer ushered us into a small room with a holotable in the center of it. The door closed behind us as my team still stood at the entryway, it was pitch black. So this is how it ends huh? Figured I'd go out a little more gloriously.

Much to my surprise we didn't die.

The holotable shot to life and illuminated the room. Revealing another team, ODST's by the armor and insignia, standing on the other side of the table. There were mostly concealed by the shadows of the room but one stood out, he had an assault rifle strapped to his back and a helmet with a comms piece attached to the side. The rest were barely visible, but they were there alright. My team spread out across the room just the same, ODST's and Force Recon always did have a rough rivalry with one another.

"Alright before we begin my name is Ensign Andrew Keaton, I'll be your adviser from now on. Listen to me and maybe we won't leave you on some god forsaken rock." Cheery these ONI spooks were.

"The assignment I'm tasking you all with is of high priority. Normally I'd have Spartans do it, but Central Command decided they'd be better suited for civilian evacuation, so you'll have to do." His light British accent, along with his young voice made him sound like something out of an old 21st century movie. My team wasn't stirred by that insult all that much, it always came down to whether they could get Spartans or not. Always…

"Before I go any further I'd like to introduce both of you…" He gestured towards me, great a meet and greet. I stepped forward into the light, my short brown hair complimenting my eyes in it. The only thing off being the amount of dirt and sweat over my face. "... 2nd Lieutenant Reeves, 1st Force Recon Company, Onyx team. I assure you that they are the most qualified we have available." From the way he was talking he wasn't trying to introduce us, rather convince that ODST squad leader that we were up to par.

He then made another gesture towards the ODST's. The squad leader removed his helmet, revealing a fairly untouched face… Surprisingly. His clean shaven appearence only reinforced by the thickly defined jawline and dark hair. His blue eyes somewhat subdued under all of it. He smirked towards Lieutenant Keaton before looking at me. "... Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck of Alpha Nine."

 **I know it's been awhile but my other story received so much positive attention that I decided to upload 2 chapters. Other than that not much to be said, I won't be teasing much as I'm sure you all know where this is going.**

 **The only thing I definitely say is that this story is reaching the endgame.**

 **Please leave a review as it helps me improve my writing.**

 **As always, I'll write to you all in the next chapter.**


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